Danmachi: The Prologue
by warp writer
Summary: A week after the death of young Bell Cranel's grandfather, the young boy mourns for the loss of his only family, but, suddenly, a mysterious group of adventurers arrive at his village, claiming to be the legendary Zeus Familia! What is their purpose here? Rated T for safety
1. The Mystery Party

**Hello! Warp Writer here. This is my first Danmachi fanfic and I'm in love with the LN. It's really good, you guys should read it if you haven't already. It's very good. If all goes well, this story will have you on the edge of your seats. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Your heart will be touched by the familial love that unites a group of people together.**

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 **Danmachi: The Prologue**

Chapter 1

The Mystery Party

At the outskirts of a small, secluded village, a young boy no older than 10 years old stood in front of a grave, tears dotting his eyes. He wore a simple brown sweater and a pair of pants. He had white hair and red eyes, an appearance similar to that of a rabbits. He was relatively small for his age. His name was Bell Cranel and, as of a few mere weeks ago, he has no family to call his own.

"Grandpa…" Bell whimpered, looking blankly at his grandfather's grave. He missed him. He missed his his smile. He missed the way he carried him on his shoulders. He missed the stories he used to tell him. He missed it all, but now Bell's grandfather was gone and he was… alone.

* * *

Down in the village, a mid sized group of people walked into the the village through the village gates. If you were to describe the group in one word, it would be peculiar. Or, perhaps, diverse. The group had various species in it its ranks. Such as elves, dark elves, dwarves, prums, a werewolf, and humans. Each of them had the vibe of a warrior. No, an adventurer. They were quite eye catching to the plain villagers, to say the least.

"Excuse me, sir," a female elf addressed nearby villager, a merchant, after separating from the group. She was tall and beautiful. She had long, beautiful auburn hair and chocolate brown eyes. She wore a long blue robe and had a long wooden staff- a wand. "Could you point us to where the mayor's office is, please? Or, perhaps, you know of a boy named Bell Cranel-kun?"

"Bell-kun?!" The merchant exclaimed, shocked. "Why do you need to see him?!"

"So you do know him," a human man said, smiling. He was a tall man with a powerful, muscular build. He head neck length black hair and onyx eyes. He wore a silver, waist length, coat with two pockets over his black undershirt and and black paints. Strapped to his waist were two machetes. "Care to tell us where he is?"

"What is your business with him?" The merchant said suspiciously. Almost everyone of these visitors were armed with some kind of weapon, and the ones who weren't carrying a weapon looked like they didn't need one to cause trouble. "That boy has been through enough without suspicious fellows like you bothering him."

"Whoa, calm down there, Merchant-san," the human man requested, waving his hands in defense. "We mean no harm to Bell, you, or anybody else in this village. We're just here to take the kid away."

"What?!" The merchant cried, outraged. He was so loud the other villagers who were in earshot started gathering around. The man's companions groaned in exasperation and frustration at his faux pas.

"Please, excuse his poor choice of words," a human woman said as she stepped in between the two men. She was a tall, beautiful woman with long, silky black hair and emerald green eyes. She wore a grey cloak over her body. "We are acquaintances of Bell-kun's grandfather. We are aware of his passing and are here on his bequest."

"You mean, you people know Old Man Cranel?"

"Yes… if that's what you refer to his as?" The human woman said, sounding slightly surprised.

"B-But how do you know about his death? It isn't like anyone expected or desired him being killed by a monster. He was a pervert, but a good man. No one desired his death."

"The mayor, who knows of us, sent us a letter after C-Cranel-san's death," she explained. "His name is Seymour, am I right?"

"You are," the merchant nodded. "Alright, I'll take you to Seymour-san's place. Business is slow-"

"Wait!" One of their group members-a young female elf- suddenly shouted alarmingly. She was holding her head with her hand like she was having a headache.

"What is it, Phina?" The woman elf who started the conversation with the merchant in the first place asked.

"Monsters!" The elf girl, who was now named Phina, answered immediately. "They're weak, but there are several of them. Ten, maybe more."

"Monsters, but how can she-"

"Where are they?" The human man asked, cutting off the merchant.

"T-That way!" Phina pointed in the general direction. "Not too far from here. About 8 kilometers!"

"8 kilometers that way? But that's where Bull-kun is!"

"What?!" The human woman, who had been very cool and composed up until now, screeched in horror. Her face contorted into anxiety and rage.

"T-The cemetery! H-He's always going there," the merchant flinched, intimidated by the woman's mood swing. Even the other members of her party were showing various degrees of worry and fear. What was Bell to her and to these people? "E-Ever since the old man died. Even if he isn't there, there's definitely-"

"Right," the human man nodded, understanding the gist of it. Bell certainly wasn't the only one to lose someone he loved. There was likely at least a couple of people at the cemetery. Unknowingly about attacked by some horde of monsters. "Alright, let's deal with them. Since there-"

* _SWOOSH_ *

Without waiting to hear the human man's orders, the human woman leaped into the air with more height than any normal person could be capable of and land on the roof of a two story build with impeccable grace. For the briefest of moments, the beautiful image of the woman's cloak fly off of her body revealed her well endowed womanly figure and the white sleeveless dress with two knives strapped to her waist, then, subsequently, the cloak fell right back onto her body. "I'm going."

"Kyra!" The human man shouted frustratedly, but she had already began to move, the sound of her leaping from rooftop to rooftop quickly died down after she had yelled, "I'll slay all of the monsters and bring bell-kun back home safely!"

"...Well, what now, Kuda?" A muscular male dwarf in armor asked the human.

"It's fine," Kuda sighed. "Kyra will slaughter the monsters swiftly, however…" Kuda turned to to Phina and young female chienthrope. "Phina-chan, please go and heal anyone who has gotten injured. Nim-chan, use your magic to get her there, please."

"Yes, sir," Phina said.

"Understood, Kuda-san," Nim the chienthrope girl obeyed. She offered her elf compatriot her hand, which Phinatook. Then, she started reciting a twenty second long spell that covered both girls in an emerald green light. " _Shift!_ "

* _POP!_ *

With a sound that was similar to a bubble popping, the two girls disappeared and instantly reappeared several hundred meters in the direction of where Kyra was going. Nim said "shift again and the two disappeared once more. _Shift_ was obviously a type of trigger word that let the castor and anyone in contact with her teleport.

"Haaa," Kuda sighed depressingly as he watched the two girls go.

"Something the matter?" The elf woman asked.

"I wanted to go save Bell," he admitted. "But since Kyra already went…"

"That's it?" a male prum sighed disappointedly.

"So, merchant-san, If you could-"

"..." Kuda stopped when he saw that the merchant had a face of utter shock. It was understandable. Just moments ago, an elf he didn't know started saying there was horse of monsters coming to hurt and kill people, then he saw a woman leap higher and swifter than anybody ought, and after that he saw magic and two girls teleporting. Anybody would feel overwhelmed, at least a little bit.

"Merchant-san?"

"Who… Who are you people?"

"Hm... " Kuda put his thumb and index finger on his finger and thought to himself. "Generally speaking… all of us belong to Zeus Familia."

* * *

 **And… done. For the first chapter at least. I'll try to keep the chapters fairly short so I can update faster. Unless you guys want longer chapters? Anyway, what'd you think? The Zeus Familia suddenly appears in Bell's village and says they want to take him away. I've always believed that character development and action scenes should mesh together. They do that really well in the Danmachi story. Such as (SPOILER ALERT!) when Bell challenged that minotaur and didn't run away or how he grew as a man when he challenged Aisha to save Haruhime.**

 **Anyway, I hope you like this first chapter. Read and Review please!**


	2. Bell's Heroism

Chapter 2

Bell's Heroism

' _You won't die._ '

To the naked eye, it looked like a strong force of wind was rushing past the village, but in actuality, it was a person moving at speeds faster than what was humanly possible, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Despite the lightning fast speed that she was moving at, when Kyra's feet connected with the ground, it only made the slightest of sounds, not a loud thump like one would expect. It was a testament to her skill and grace.

' _I won't_ _ **let**_ _you_ _ **die**_ _!_ '

It was also a testament of how deeply rooted her training and experience is. Despite her intense desire to save the boy known as Bell Cranel, her body remembered the proper way to move. Her way.

' _You won't die because of a lie!_ '

* * *

"Well, goodbye grandpa," young Bell said to the tombstone after wiping away his tears. "I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe I could tell _you_ a cool story tomorrow. You know… like how you always did for me?"

As if, he thought. His grandfather told him stories of some of the greatest heroes of all times. Men, and women, so brave and so cool, a plain, cowardly kid such as himself couldn't even be considered for a comparison. Thinking he could make a story rivaling all of that was so laughable it wasn't even funny. After all, ignoring the fact that he was just a kid, a small village such as this seldom received anything that could ever be the foundation of a heroic tale.

"...Grrrrgh….."

His back turned to the origin of the sound, a chill ran down the young boys spine. He wasn't quite sure what he had heard, but for some reason, it invoked a primal feeling within him; the feeling of fear. He had yet to experience this exact feeling in the past, however, he could remember a similar from a before a week ago. It was when he heard that his grandfather had died. Similar, yet different. Back then, he was terrified of the truth, in denial of the reality, and silently begging whatever higher power there was that somewhere, somehow, his beloved grandfather was alive.

A fear born from emotion.

In this case, this feeling was more primal, like his human instincts were forcibly awakened. These newly born instincts were telling him to run. Run as fast as his legs could take him and to not look back. But he was frozen. He was paralyzed by fear.

"...Grrrrgh….!"

The growl was much louder now. What was growling was coming closer and closer by the second. He could hear multiple steps. If he had some training, he would be able to tell that there were around ten two legged creatures. With a combination of a force of will and childlike curiosity, Bell allowed himself to, shakily, force his head to look at what ever was behind him. Whether he would regret looking was debatable.

Behind him, several inhuman creatures walked past a set of trees that lead to a forest. They were considerably bigger than him, a child, but shorter than full grown adults. Their skin was a grotesque green and covered with warts, their noses looked like someone stuck warty green eggplants on their faces, and their eyes were red, similar to Bell's, but, unlike his attractive, ruby like sheen, theirs were more blood shot and seemingly amplified their bloodst. Their oddly shaped heads were bald and their bodies were somewhat beefy, like a short bodybuilder. In their hands were various weapons, such as knives, scythes, clubs, and swords. Where they obtained human made weapons, no one wanted to imagine.

"G-Goblins!" One man screamed in terror. Like Bell, there were other people visiting the graves of dead loved ones and, now, regretting not coming at another time. To be specific, aside from Bell, there were two other families. Two men, two women, an older teenage boy, and a young girl who looked a little bit older than Bell. A total of 7 were at the cemetery. "RUUUUN!"

"Groooooohhhh!" The horde of goblins raised their heads and roared louder than a lion's roar. They were prepared to hunt. The monsters charged like wild beasts. Fortunately for one family, the one with the teenage boy, they were farthest away from the goblins and had the best chance of escape. Unfortunately for one family, the one with the young girl, were the closest to the farthest and were in the most danger. And then there was Bell, sandwiched between both.

Bell wanted to run, but then he saw it. The mother of the girl grabbed her daughter's hand and grabbed it and ran with her husband without any regard for gentleness or safety, clearly preferring accidentally dislocating her arm than any of them getting killed. Tapping into the latent, untouched physical abilities born from adrenaline, the family moved like the devil was on their tails. Their speed reaching the peak of their physical potential. Despite their advantageous position when the horde appeared, it looked like they had a very good chance to escape.

However.

Due to her clumsiness and and less than graceful running form, the daughter tripped over a rock, falling face forward, and breaking out of her mother's iron tight grip. The mother and father were unable to notice that their daughter had stopped running with them and that she was now dazed on the ground from the rough fall until they were a good dozen feet away from her.

"Clarabeth!" After realizing that her daughter, now named Clarabeth, was lying sprawled on the grassy ground of the cemetery, the mother screeched her name and attempted to go to her, but the father, instinctually, held her back, seeing that the goblins were about to pounce on their daughter. There was no hope for her now.

But even so, Bell ran. He ran to do whatever he could to save that girl, at a speed that should've been impossible for a small child like him to move at. It wasn't out of thought, but instinct. Time slowed to the point that it was almost frozen.

' _Bell, anyone who calls himself a man must always be ready to risk his life to save a beautiful woman from the dangers that threaten her. Especially, from monsters._ '

For some reason, at that moment, his grandfather's words popped into his head. The old man had taught him many things, but the one lesson that he always made sure to emphasize was that it was a man's duty to protect women. There was no grey area about it.

' _For a man who cannot even protect a single lady, can never have the gall to call himself a hero, nor can he attempt to be one!_ '

Hero, huh…?

' _Could I ever become one? A hero?_ '

His grandfather never answered.

Some may call it childish, and others idiotic, but this was his goal. It was his dream to become someone that could give hope to those around him. But even more than that, he wanted _his_ hero to call him that. A hero.

"Gaaaahhhhh!" Bell ran faster than he had ever run before, rushing past Clarabeth's parents in a flash. Clarabeth, who was no face to face with the ugly goblin with the club who was about to kill her by beating her to death, wailed out in horror, and tried to, futilely, protect herself by crossing her arms like a shield. The goblin swung its heavy club like a hammer at the girl, who had now accepted that this where she would die. Killed at a cemetery. Ironic, no? Yet one boy wouldn't just let her be killed. "Don't touch herrrrr!"

Bell ran in between Clarabeth and the club goblin as the latter swung its weapon down vertically at the former, who now being protected by Bell's whole body. His back to the goblin, Bell, with his arms wide open, took the monster's swing with his entire body, the disgusting, blood curdling sound of his back breaking was as loud as a big rock falling onto a wooden porch. How he was still standing, only the deities would know.

Goblins were level one monsters. The weakest of the weak. However, to an ordinary village boy, a monster was a monster and pain was pain. And the pain he was feeling was immense. He wanted to scream, scream as loudly as he could. He wanted to cry until his eyes fell off. Run away from the scary monster as fast as he could.

But he didn't do any of those things.

Because more than he wanted to run or scream or cry, he wanted to be a hero for this girl in front of him. Stupid, some might call it, but he couldn't help it. He was human. And humans, no, all living thing lived by their desires. Be it for money or charity, love or passion, dreams or pleasure, every action that a person made was rooted by desire. A desire to live, to save, to hurt, to eat, to love, to dominate, to control, to rebel, to achieve. It wasn't always logical. It wasn't good or bad. It was just proof that people are alive and they'll do what they truly want in the end. Even the goblins that were attacking them were just following their desires.

And Bell's desire was to save Clarabeth. No one had the right to judge him for that.

"...B… Bell-kun…?" Clarabeth said hoarsely, clearly in shock. And she wasn't alone. Everyone who saw what had just happened, Clarabeth's parents, the teenage boys family, who was just about to fully escape, but froze when they saw that Clarabeth was about to be killed, and even the goblins were stupefied by Bell's actions. It was if they had seen a human do something they never thought possible. Sacrificing their life to save another's. Unfortunately, their daze only lasted for so long and their murderous blood lust was resurfacing.

"...un…" Bell whispered hoarsely, blood trailing out of his mouth. It hurt to talk.

"...?" Clarabeth couldn't hear him.

"...Run."

"But-"

"I said run!" Bell yelled, causing him to cough up blood that fell onto Clarabeth's pretty face. "...Sorry."

She didn't care. Right now, the only thing on her mind was Bell. Even the goblins took a back seat to him. "But you're-"

"Please! I… I want to be your hero…" Bell voiced his deepest desire, to be a hero, with a small, weak smile, looking down on the dirt covered blonde girl. The beloved smile of reassurance. Clarabeth was in awe. Bell was younger and smaller than her, but, right now, he looked bigger than any adult she knew. "I don't want you to die."

Unfortunately, the club goblin was tired of the drama and, as if watching Bell get killed was the most interesting thing to to see, the other goblins closed in on him. The club goblin raised its trademark weapon, readying its swing.

"Bell-kun! Look out!" Clarabeth, seeing the goblin about to make another attack, screamed desperately. But Bell didn't have the strength to run or move, only to stand and die.

The goblin swung.

And it was the last thing it ever did.

Faster than the eye could see, a black haired beauty descended from the sky and slashed the goblin in half by running her knife down the beasts head and followed through, killing him instantly. The corpse immediately became a black gas, which faded instantly, leaving behind a small stone.

"Ah…" Clarabeth gasped in shock, as did everyone else. Not once but twice did someone attempt to save another, although, in this case, she succeeded. The goblins, on the other hand, were now frozen stiff. They could instinctively sense that, even if there were a hundred of them, they wouldn't stand a chance. The woman, who landed on her feet, stood with her back to Bell, only giving him a slight glance. That was all she could bear. With him still facing Clarabeth, his back was still to the monsters and, now, Kyra. What she saw was by no means a minor flesh wound, but a serious, life threatening injury. His and back were covered in blood, she could just tell that there were serious deformities from being struck by the, now dead, goblins club, and the sweater he was wearing was now ruined.

"You beasts crossed the line," she said calmly, but darkly.

 _Zzz! Zzz!_

Suddenly, Kyra's body began to glow in a white light, her bod cover in static electricity. She threw off her cloak, which revealed her functional, white sleeveless dress and the two knives strapped to her waist. Unsheathing her second knife, Kyra was ready for a slaughter fest. The goblins backed away in the face of her killing intent.

"It's decided. Not a single one of you will live."

The thunderstorm had appeared.

* * *

 **Kyra Slavis**

 **Gender: female**

 **Age: None of your business**

 **Height: 6' 1"**

 **Weapons: twin knives**

 **Affiliation: Zeus Familia**

 **Level: 6**

 **Alias: The Thunderstorm**

 **Skill: Kaminari**

 **Magic:TBA**

 **Status: TBA**

* * *

 **I imagine that some who read this will say that I went over the top, but I don't think so. I want to convey that, while he's still a timid boy, he had always wanted to be a hero and has a strong desire to protect those around him (especially girls). Next chapter you'll get to see what one of the strongest female adventurers from Orario can do.**

 **Read and Review.**


	3. Kyra The Thunderstorm

**Sorry it took so long to update. I got stuck at a certain part and wasn't sure how to continue. But it's here now.**

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Chapter 3

Kyra The Thunderstorm

The gods named her, the level 6, Kyra Slavis of Zeus Familia, The Thunderstorm partially due to her trademark skill, Kaminari, which covered her body in electricity and move lightning fast, but, in reality, it was what happened _after_ she triggered Kaminari that earned her her nickname. The moment her skill was triggered, dozens of monsters were instantly slain. Even high level boss monsters from the deep floors could put up no resistance and were slaughtered like animals. She was Kyra Slavis. The thunderstorm, the disaster. None could oppose a disaster.

And now the adventurer that could be comparable to a disaster was about unleash her fury onto the monsters that dared to attack humans. Dared to attack Bell.

* _pop!_ *

The instant the bubble popping sound could be heard, the chienthrope girl, Nim, and the elf girl, Phina, appeared out of thin air, surprising everyone (today was full of surprises), except for Kyra, who was expecting them, and Bell, who was so dazed and in pain that he could barely process anything.

The reason Nim and Phina were able to appear like they did was due to Nim's magic, Spacial Shift. Said magic allowed the caster, and who ever was in physical contact with her, to shift a certain amount of distance away from their original spot. A useful magic to get to far away locations. Unfortunately, it had a drawback.

"Phew!" Nim sighed in relief after falling to her knees and gasping for breath. She looked like she just ran a marathon. "I need to get in better shape. Who would've guessed 8 kilometers would be so draining?"

Every shift took a little bit of energy for each cast. Do it too much and, of course, you'll be completely drained of energy.

"Phina-chan, take care of Bell-kun, now," Kyra ordered, still facing the goblins.

"Bell-kun?" Phina looked to where Bell was and her eyes widened in horror. It would be a miracle if he was still breathing. Why he was still standing was beyond her. She ran to him immediately.

"Now that he's being taken care of…" Kyra charged at lightning speed, too fast to see. The goblins were helpless. They couldn't even react, let alone defend. In a single instance, all of the goblins upper halves flew upwards before turning to magic stones. To call it anticlimactic would be an understatement. They were massacred.

"We're saved…?" Clarabeth's father gasped in disbelief.

"C-Clarabeth!" Her mother dashed to her daughter at hell's speed and wrapped her arms tightly around her little girl, tears running down the woman's cheeks. The father followed quickly after them and all embraced his wife and daughter.

"Mama…?" Clarabeth gave a dazed glance glance to her mother, before returning her gaze to Bell, who, after being laid down was being treated by Phina, who cast a healing spell the created a blue glow that encompassed Bell's whole body. "B-Bell-kun, will he be okay?"

"He's certainly not in good shape," Phina muttered, staring at the now unconscious Bell. He had lost a lot of blood and almost all of the bones on his right side were shattered. His injuries were too severe for Phina to completely heal with just one treatment, but he could alleviate the pain and could save him from critical condition, at least. She glanced to the side at Clarabeth and smiled assuredly. "But he has a tough body. He'll be fine."

"Good!" Clarabeth sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness," her mother sighed also, gently stroking her child's head. She didn't want to say it, but she didn't think her daughter could survive getting hit by a monster even once. "I need to thank Bell-kun once he gets better. And you too miss." She added after seeing Kyra walk over to them. "You must be an adventurer from a familia. I can't imagine an ordinary person doing what you just did."

"We are," Kyra nodded, looking down at the parents and child. The mother had long blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her daughter. She wore a one piece, cream colored dress and her daughter wore a white flower patterned dress. Both were attractive for their ages. The perfect image of countryside beauties. The father was a bespectacled mane with dark hair and wore a semi formal suit. He had short brown hair and slightly tanned skin. "No one else was hurt, right?.

"Fortunately, no," Clarabeth's father answered after getting up. "Thanks to you and Bell-kun. My name is Kirk Augustine. This is my wife, Anna, and our daughter, Clarabeth. You are?"

"My name is Kyra Slavis, an adventurer of Zeus Familia."

* * *

"Zeus Familia?!" The merchant exclaimed after hear the human man, Kuda, introduce his party. "The legendary group of adventurers from Orario?"

"That's how people think of us, at least," Kuda chuckled. "But now we've "fallen from grace", so to speak, and are now wandering around."

"But I had heard that Zeus Familia was wiped out when-" The merchant stopped himself from saying anymore. He wasn't tactless enough, or stupid enough, to remind one the strongest adventurers in the world of "that". The party couldn't be called small, but the legendary familia was known to have one of the largest numbers in Orario. If this twenty man party was all that was left, then Zeus Familia must have truly gone through hell. "N-Never mind. Anyway, you said something about monsters before?"

"You don't have to worry," Kuda assured him, not knowing that Bell was seriously injured. "Kyra can easily and swiftly take down any monster. So could you please take us to the mayor? Or maybe where Bell is staying?"

"...I'll take you to the mayor's place," the merchant decided before leading them to his location. As the Zeus Familia walked through the tiny village, they earned the peculiar stares of the villagers. It was only natural. This being an out of the way village, a group of adventurers like them seldom, if ever, made appearances here. The fact that the group was filled with so many different races was the cherry on top.

"We're here," the merchant said once they arrived at their destination, the mayor's office building. While it certainly wasn't the grandest or biggest building the party of adventurers had seen, it was still one of the bigger structures in the village that that they had seen. It was a white house made of brick and wood. There were windows and a door. The building looked like a house. "The mayor's house."

"Thank you…" Kuda just realized he never asked for this man's name.

"It's Dorwen," the merchant said, guessing what Kuda was thinking. "Before you go in, may I ask you people something?"

"Sure," Kuda nodded.

"Bell-kun… You're really planning on taking him away?"

"It's complicated," Kuda answered. "Does he mean a lot to you?"

"Our village is small, as I'm sure you've noticed. Our total population count is, what, 100? Maybe less. We're all pretty purehearted an practical here, admittedly. Most of the couple's here don't usually get married until their mid twenties, so our birth rate is pretty low. In a good year, we'll have a hand full of babies. I don't think we have any other ten year old's besides Bell. He's a sweet kid, but doesn't really socialize with other brats. When the old man died, I'm sure he had to have felt unbearably lonely, still does. There's no way he's over it."

Zeus Familia stood silently, attentively listening to Dorwen's story, their eyes covered in a shadow.

"We love him, everyone in this village cares about him, but I don't think we can replace the old man. So, what I think I'm trying to say is, if there are people who out there who can be his family, then I'll be happy for the kid. He deserves that much." He stopped, a small smile on his face. "Hahaha… I don't know why I said all of that. I-I'll go see the mayor and tell him that you're here."

Perhaps due to the lax nature of a countryside village, Dorwen was able to open the mayor's house door without knocking and entered, which was very strange to the Orario adventurers. In the city of the dungeon, actions such as those were frowned upon. Dorwen left the adventurers with somewhat thoughtful expressions.

"...He was sincere," a female prum said softly. She had blonde hair tied into a bun and green eyes. She wore a casual cream colored dress and black shorts. Strapped to her back was a crossbow that matched her small, childlike size and a dagger was at her waist. Her appearance was that of a little girl with weapons, but she was much older, much stronger than she looked.

"I could tell, Wilna," Kuda replied. Wilna was a level four, which was no small feet for a prum, who were considered the weakest race and always had difficulty leveling up. She had a unique skill that allowed her to anticipate monsters attacks, as if reading their minds. However, it wasn't mind reading, it was more like reading their emotions. Despite popular belief, monsters weren't thoughtless killers, at least not every single one. They were survivors. They wanted to survive their battles with adventurers as much as adventurers wanted to survive fights with them. It was by reading their emotions that Wilna was able to anticipate the various strategies the more intelligent monsters used. However, monsters were not the only ones whose emotions she could read. She could read people too. She could tell if they're lying or being truthful, happy or sad, or even just plain confused. In the case of Dorwen, he was completely sincere. He really cared for Bell. "He's a good guy. I can tell that much."

"It isn't just him," Wilna continued. "It's all of these people. None of their hearts feel murky. They're truly pure."

If anyone asked Wilna if reading people's emotions was a blessing, she'd say no every time. Wilna obtained her ability after she became level 2 and, ever since then, she had to face the fact that a lot of people, people she passed by every day on the streets, weren't as pure as they made themselves out to be. They were dark and twisted, or tinged with envy, or riled with hate. Ugly emotions that gave people to do bad. However, she didn't allow herself to lose her faith in humanity. Some people do bad, others do good. Some people do bad for good reasons, others do good for the wrong reasons. Nobody was truly perfect. Everybody had some dark patches in their hearts. Overcoming the dark parts was part of a person's job and Wilna found that beautiful.

However, her skill did make it hard for her to trust in others. When faced with the ugliness of man's heart. She couldn't help but be repulsed. However, Zeus Familia was different. Even if some of their hearts had the murky emotions that made her hesitant to form meaningful relationships with people,their heroism and kindness overcame all of that, making them clear.

But these differences made the naturally curious Wilna wonder. Why was Zeus Familia, and these villagers, so… clear? What was it that a farming village and a party of adventurers had in common that they shared this trait? Wilna was curious to find out.

"Are you having second thoughts?" The elf woman asked.

"Second thoughts?" Kuda said with his eyes covered by his bangs. "Why would I have second thoughts? Celesta?"

* * *

"So, you two close?" Phina asked casually, starting a second healing. Phina couldn't heal the boy all at once, but they also couldn't move him without at least two healing spells. Maybe more.

"Not really," Clarabeth answered, not taking her eyes off of Bell. With the goblin problem resolved, Clarabeth had anxiously sat on her knees by Bell's side, patiently waiting. "I just see him pass by our family's store, which is why I don't understand why he saved me. I-I'm grateful, but..."

"He probably didn't have a reason," Phina said softly. "From what I can say, he just wanted to save you."

"...Who are you people anyway?" Clarabeth asked, not feeling like continuing the conversation. "You guys knew Bell-kun's name before anyone had said it. Do you know him?"

"W-We're acquaintances of his grandfather," Phina explained hesitantly. "We um…"

"Old Man Cranel?" Clarabeth said, surprised. "But he died."

"We're aware," Phina nodded. "The old man asked us, our leaders to be exact, to take care of Bell-kun if he died. So that's why we're here."

"Oh… is it okay to be talking with you while you're… doing what you're doing?"

"Don't worry," the young female elf smiled. "Once you start a spell, it's simply a matter of holding myself in place."

"Oh," Clarabeth sighed, indifferent, which made Phina frown. A girl her age, of any age shouldn't be so glum. Not after their life was saved.

"Hey, did you not _want_ Bell-kun to save you?" Phina asked, her expression serious.

"H-Huh?!" Clarabeth was shocked at the sudden question.

"Are you not grateful?"

"Of course I am, but-"

"Then you should be thanking him."

"I will!"

"Then you should give him a passionate kiss when he wakes up."

"Okay!" Clarabeth agreed without thinking before blushing after realizing what she had just agreed to. "W-Wait what?!"

"It's practically traditional for a damsel in distress to thank her savior with their body," Phina explained as if it were common sense. "Although, considering your age, a kiss will have to suffice. That said, I wonder if Bell-kun is interested in girls right now. Maybe you could promise your body to him when your older?"

"That's… That is…" Clarabeth was now completely red in the face and was practically steaming.

"Aw, you're embarrassed," Phina cooed. "You do see Bell-kun as a member of the opposite sex, don't you? You won't have a problem having him taking your first kiss or your- OWW!"

"Stop teasing her, Phina," Nim, the chienthrope girl, ordered after smacking the elf hard on her head. She left a huge bump. "You're an elf. Shouldn't you be ashamed at talking about such a questionable subject?"

"Oooh… you hit me far too hard, Nim," Phina moaned, rubbing the bump on her head. "I was just trying to cheer her up."

"Then you should've stopped at the kiss," Nim advised. "Sex was a little too extreme for a girl her age."

"You think?"

"I do," she sighed before facing Clarabeth. "Bell-kun saved you because it was in his instinct. It was his choice, so there's no need to be upset over it. If you really appreciate what he did, then be thankful you're alive. Don't overthink the situation. You're alive and he's alive. Call it a win and leave it at that." She added, smiling warmly.

"...Right, I will," Clarabeth nodded.

"That was sweet," Phina said. "But it was mostly stoney."

"At least I didn't suggest two preteens hooking up," Nim retorted.

"It was a joke," she argued.

"It was still creepy!"

"...I'm sorry about them," Kyra said apologetically to Clarabeth's mother and father, who were watching them from a distance.

"It's fine," Anna replied. Despite the scary situation that had just transpired, she seemed calm and cool. Kyra believed she was tough skinned. "Clarabeth seems to be cheering up."

"That's good," her husband said, equally calm. "Although, that elf girl seems different from the other elves I've seen. I would assume she would be a bit more… reserved."

"Phina-chan was raised outside of the elven homeland by non-elf parents, so she doesn't have the same habits and mannerisms as elves with a more traditional upbringing," Kyra explained.

"I see," Kirk nodded. "But, still, I can't believe you girls are from Zeus Familia. Even all the way out here in the sticks we occasionally hear about the legendary familias, Zeus and Hera. I never thought I'd get to meet some of their members, let alone be saved by them, even less by the legendary Kyra Slavis."

"I am hardly deserving of praise," Kyra said, denying her status as a top-class adventure as she glanced at the unconscious boy being healed by Phina. "Not after failing to protect Bell-kun."

"...But-"

"I realize that I should be grateful that he's alive at all," Kyra admitted, interrupting Anna. "But it still hurts."

Kirk and Anna exchanged looks before the latter asked something. "Excuse me, um, may I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You say you know-er-knew Cranel-san, right," Anna asked.

"That is correct…"

"Then... he was a member of Zeus Familia as well?"

"!?" Kyra was shocked by the question, however she knew that she should have guessed that someone would assume that the old man would be from the familia. It wasn't wrong, yet it wasn't correct either. "...Yes. He was."

"...I see," Anna nodded, sounding slightly skeptical. "He always told stories about how great Orario adventurers were. He must have been speaking from experience."

"Indeed," Kyra nodded, unable to look at the couple in the eyes. She decided to approach Phina and Nim, who with Bell and Clarabeth. "Phina-chan, how is Bell-kun?"

"He'll live," Phina answered. "He isn't fully healed, but the worst is over. If we can feed him some healing potions, then he'll be completely fine."

"Can he be moved?"

"Yes, but it needs to be gentle," Phina advised.

"Understood," Kyra nodded. "Nim-chan, how do you feel, stamina wise?"

"I feel mostly fine," Nim answered. "But Kuda-san and the others aren't where they were before. They're at the mayor's house, which we don't know where it is."

"That's right," Kyra realized, feeling like kicking herself for forgetting. "It was stupid of me to not bring a single vial of healing potion."

"We should've remembered too," Nim sighed.

"Um, excuse me, but," Clarabeth spoke up shyly. "There is a doctor's office at the foot of the hill."

"That's right," Anna said. "He also has potions too."

"That's great!" Kyra exclaimed happily. "I'll take him there right now."

"We'll lead you there," Kirk offered. "The Doc's place isn't very distinguishable from other people's homes."

"Thank you, that'd be much appreciated," Kyra lowered her head.

"Please," Kirk said dismissively. "That's hardly enough to repay you for saving our lives."

"Indeed," Anna nodded. "How about you all come over to our house for dinner. Sorry that that is all we have to provide, but I am a very good cook, if I do say so myself. Not sure how I compare to cooks in Orario, though."

"N-No, I mean we came here with a very big group," Kyra explained, trying to find a way to gently turn them down because she didn't want to impose.

"That's fine," Ann assured. "They can come too."

"There are about thirty of us."

"That's nothing compared to the holidays," Anna chuckled. "Between my husband and I, there are over 100 mouths for me to feed."

"That's impressive…!" Kyra couldn't help but say, sounding shocked.

"Not really. The point is, we'd be happy to have all of you over," Anna insisted. It was quite clear that she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Including Bell-kun."

"Well… if you insist," Bella conceded. "But I warn you, some of our boys aren't very good at table manners."

"I'm quite used to that, honestly," Anna laughed.

"But firstly, we should get Bell-kun to that doctor," Bella reminded them all. "Phina-chan, should I make a stretcher for Bell-kun with materials from those woods?"

"I think it would be fine if someone carried him on their back," Phina advised before adding something with an awkward face. "Maybe you… Kyra-san?"

"...If it must be done," Kyra nodded, unemotional. Then, she crouched down, readying her back to be ridden on. "Help him on my back. And be gentle."

"Yes, ma'am!" The two girls obey unquestioningly as they, gently, lifted up Bell's unconscious body with Nim lifting up his upper half and Phina lifting his lower half, then smoothly laying him on Kyra's back, who held Bell onto her by grabbing his legs and wrapped them around her torso. His head rested comfortably on her shoulder. Throughout the process, Bell didn't react at all. If Phina hadn't already checked him, she would have assumed he was dead. The very thought sent a chill down her spine.

As the female adventurers were at work, the Augustine family couldn't help but notice a certain awkwardness in the air, mostly exuded by Kyra. However, they dismissed it as only their imaginations. It really wasn't their business anyway.

"Let us go," Kyra said. The Augustine adults nodded, then led the way. As Kyra followed, with Nim and Phina behind her, she felt mixed. On one hand, she was happy to have Bell on her back, but on the other hand, it was after she failed to save him from being hurt. He was unconscious, unaware that he was even being carried. It broke her heart. Nevertheless, was aware that this was the price she paid for her decisions. And she would carry them out no matter how terrible she felt. No matter how much her heart would shatter in the end.

* * *

 **Sorry if you were disappointed by how fast it ended with Kyra vs the goblins, but she's a level 6 and goblins are level 1 fodder. It could've been 100 goblins and they still would've been slaughtered in an instant.**

 **Read and Review!**


	4. Bell is Loved

**Yay! I managed to finish this chapter in just four days! I don't really know what else to say. I kind of always believed that the top and bottom sections should always have something written.**

 **R &R**

* * *

Chapter 4

Bell Is Loved

"So you're Zeus Familia," The man revealed to be the mayor said knowingly. He was quite old and looked to be about 60-70. His hair was balding from the center leave a large bald spot and grey hair on the sides of his head. He was rather short and had a wrinkly face. He wore half moon glasses and wore a brown vest over a white buttoned shirt and cream colored pants. He was short and frail yet he gave off the impression of someone wise and distinguished. He met them from the porch of his office/home. They were on the front yard of his property.

"Yes, we are," Kuda nodded.

"I've been expecting you," the mayor said. He stood next to Dorwen, who was the one who told him that they were here. "I'd invite you all in… but I'm skeptical of whether or not you'd all be able to fit inside.

"Heh… I am too," Kuda laughed awkwardly. There was about thirty of them, There numbers included two big dwarves, who carried some rather large weapons, and some quite tall amazons and werewolves. The mayor's home could probably only fit about half of them at the most. "This only needs to be a one-on-one meeting anyway. You guys wait here, okay?"

They nodded.

"Thanks again for leading us here, Dorwen-san," Kuda said to the merchant who lead them here.

"It was nothing," he nodded as he walked away. "I should head back to my stand."

Zeus Familia's member nodded and waved to the man as he left.

"Alright, come on in," the mayor said. "We have much to discuss, I believe."

* * *

"Um… Augustine-san," Kyra whispered to Anna as they were walking down the hill to get to the doctor's place. Kyra was still holding carrying Bell on her back, but then a thought had occurred to her. She figured Anna could answer it since she was a mother.

"Augustine-san is my father-in-law, Kyra-san," Anna smiled back. "Please call me Anna."

"Okay… Anna-san," Kyra complied, blushing slightly. What she was about to ask was quite embarrassing. "I was wondering… am I holding Bell-kun right?"

"...I'm afraid I don't understand," Anna replied, caught offguard by the strange question.

"I don't give piggyback rides very often, and I've never done it for a child before. I'm worrying that I'm causing Bell-kun damage by holding him the wrong way. Should his head be placed differently? Should I adjust my grip on his legs?"

"T-That's… actually quite sweet," Anna smirked, giggling a bit. Ridiculous thought the beautiful adventurer may have sound, it was actually quite sweet how worried she was about how she treated Bell. It was almost as though she was a new mother. "But you're fine Kyra-san."

"Are you sure? I'm not being to loose with him right now? Should I bend my knees more?"

"Kyra-san, you're a natural," Anna assured her.

"I am?"

"Besides, it's worse to be so tense," Ana continued. "You should relax more."

"Relax… I understand."

" _Does_ she understand?" Phina whispered to Nim. The two of them were a bit ahead of the two women, but were able to hear their conversation. It was rare for them to see the normally serious Kyra act so awkward.

"Who knows?" Nim shrugged. "I guess this is what happens when you spend most of your life killing monsters in a dark, creepy dungeon."

"Guess we should be grateful that we were kicked out of Orario, huh?" Phina chuckled.

"Yeah, or else we'd end up as socially awkward as her," Nim laughed with her.

 _GLARE_

A chill went down both girls's spines. They slowly turned their heads back slowly. They saw Kyra glaring at them irritably. Vengefully. Her stare definitely translated as ' _Once we get to the doctor's office, you two are dead'_. The two girls cursed themselves for not realizing that if they could hear her _she_ could hear them.

"I-I really hope it's a long walk…" Phina said with a grim expression.

"D-Ditto…" Nim nodded, her expression equally grim.

"Your girls certainly are troublesome," Anna said good naturedly.

"That's certainly one word for them," Kyra groaned. "How much longer until we reach the doctor's house?"

"Not much longer."

The minutes passed and the small group arrived at the foot of the hill. There were plenty of houses. Nothing could be identified as a doctors office.

"We're here," Nim said, stating the obvious.

"But I'm not seeing a doctor's house," Phina said, scanning the area with her eyes.

"It's over there," Clarabeth said, pointing to its general direction.

"Where?" Nim asked trying to see what she was pointing at, but couldn't be sure. "That white house?"

"No, it's the brown one next to it."

"It isn't very distinguishable, is it?" Kyra couldn't help but say. It looked like a normal 2-story house that any random family lived in. "Isn't it confusing?"

"Not really," Kirk said. "Everyone knows where the doc's house is. Anyone who doesn't can just ask."

"I suppose this an example of the lax nature of country living," Nim muttered.

"I'd guess you can say that," Kirk humored. "Shall we?"

They started toward to the doctor's house. Once they had arrived at the front door, Kirk was the one who knocked. A moment later, the one who answered was a young and attractive blue haired woman. She was fairly tall and had sparkling blue eyes. She wore a pure white, one piece dress that had buttons on the top and went to her knees. Her nurse uniform, perhaps.

"Kirk-san?" She said. "What are you doing here?"

"We have an injured boy, Sapphire-chan," he explained gesturing to Bell, who was still lying unconscious on Kyra's back. "Bell-kun has been injured."

"Bell-kun?" Sapphire looked towards his direction and gasped. It was most likely due to the fact that his clothes were badly torn and that there was dried blood on them… however, Bell had directly received two strong blows from the goblins club, who had enough strength to shatter a normal person's bones with just one swing. Even with Phina's healing spell, he was still far from fully recovered. The nurse's concern was warranted. "My goodness…! I will call the doctor immediately. P-Please, come inside."

They complied. They entered a room that was clearly the living room of a house, surprising the adventurers. They thought that at least they would be entering some kind of doctors office or waiting room, not a cozy living room with a couch, rug, coffee table, a fireplace, and other furniture.

"Wow, this house is really a doctor's clinic,huh," Nim muttered.

"Country people really are lax," Phina nodded.

"Shut up, both of you," Kyra ordered.

"I will go get the doctor, but first," Sapphire said, holding out her arms. "Please, allow me to take Bell-kun and lay him on the couch."

"Alright," Kyra nodded after a moment's hesitation. It was better to allow a trained person to hold him than an amature such as her. "Be gentle, please."

Kyra inched forward to Sapphire, who was at the couch and carefully lifted Bell off of Kyra's back and laid him gently on the couch. Sapphire said, "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me…"

She left to go get the doctor who was upstairs. A moment later, she came back with an older man who appeared to be in his 40s. He wore the typical white coat over a buttoned shirt and khaki pants. He had brownish red beard and hair that was greying on the sides. In his hands was a briefcase.

"Kirk, Anna, Clarabeth-chan," he nodded. "It is good to see you. Albeit, it seems the circumstances are a tad negative." He glanced at Bell, who was resting peacefully, lightly breathing.

"Indeed, Doc," Kirk nodded. He explained what happened. Hearing it made Sapphire gasp and cover her hands and it made the doctor look stone faced.

"Sounds like you all were lucky," he said after Kirk finished explaining. "No one else was hurt or anything?"

"No, everyone else managed to run away," Kirk answered. "They probably don't know that the monsters have been dealt with already."

"That could be a problem in itself," the doctor said. "You should go tell anybody who knows. Or doesn't know, in this case."

"Right," he nodded.

"And you," the doctor addressed the adventurers for the first time. "Thank you for putting a stop to to the problem before it became an actual problem. As a member of this village, I'm grateful that a member of the famous Zeus Familia assisted us."

"It was nothing," Kyra said dismissively. "We just did what we could."

"Even so, thank you," the doctor smiled. "Let me formally introduce myself. I am Doctor Oswald Oleson and she is my nurse, Sapphire DeLouise-chan."

"I, too, thank you for stopping the monsters," Sapphire said, lowering her head respectfully.

"I'm Kyra Slavis," Kyra said.

"I'm Nymphadora Diapulm," Nim said, introducing her full name. "But _please_ call me Nim."

"And I'm Dellaphina Olrichs," Phina said, also introducing her full name. "But I prefer Phina, if you wouldn't mind."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Doctor Oleson said, smiling. "I haven't seen an elf or demi-human since I went studying at the big city to be a doctor."

"So, um, Doctor Oleson," Kyra began nervously. "About Bell-kun… it's nothing serious, right? Phina-chan used her magic to treat him, but it seems he's still in bad shape."

"Hmm…" The doctor inspected Bell with his eyes and hands. "I'd have to give him a closer look to be sure, but… oh, no. He's dead."

"WHAT?!" The three adventurers, and only them, screamed, horrified. The rest just stared at the doctor dryly and irritably.

"That isn't funny, Oleson-sensei," Sapphire sighed.

"Nor appropriate," Anna scolded. "Bell-kun put his life on the line to save my daughter."

"I'm sorry, but they seemed so serious that I just had to light the mood," the doctor chuckled.

"That was... a joke…?" Kyra said, trying to calm down.

"Doctor Oleson has a _horrible_ habit of teasing people by saying that someone is going to die," Clarabeth explained sourly. "Mama once caught a cold and he said it was a terminal illness."

"Clearly, that, too, was a joke," Anna sighed.

"Ah… it was all a joke. I see…" Kyra took a deep breath, smiled, and then, for just a moment, she looked totally at peace, but, then, her entire face contorted to illustrate her righteous, passionate fury. " _I will_ _ **murder**_ _you!_ "

"Gyaah!" The doctor yelped in fear as Kyra lunged at him. Who knows what she would have done if Nim and and Phina hadn't stopped her by grabbing her.

"W-Wait, Kyra-san!" Nim demanded, holding her back from the front.

"He's sick, but he's the only doctor here," Phina tried to reason with her as she struggled to hold her back from behind. It was like trying to restain a mad beast that was thrashing about endlessly. "He is, isn't he?!"

"The only reason he can get away with this, or still breath, is because of that," Sapphire explained dryly as she she watched the scene with indifference. She must've seen things like this too often to be phased anymore.

"Hear that," Nim shouted, as if Kyra was too far gone to hear them. It wasn't too big of an understatement. Kyra's eyes seemed to glaze over. "He needs to live to treat Bell-kun!"

"Do it for Bell-kun!" Phina begged loudly.

"...For Bell...kun," Kyra groaned, slowly regaining her senses. She gently brushed Nim and Phina off of her and recomposed herself. "Fine, I won't kill him. But you'd better not make a joke of treating him."

"U-Understood," he stuttered. He looked as white as a ghost for a second.

"It's what you get for teasing concerned… why do you care so much for Bell-kun, any way?" Sapphire asked Kyra as she was scolding the doctor. "You seem too invested for a mere passerby. What is the nature of your interest with Bell-kun?"

"Bell-kun is the grandson of the old man," Kyra answered, unshaken. "That's enough for me."

"Is it, now?" Sapphire said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. The two women glared at each other. It was though there was an unseeable battle going on. Ordinarily, Nim and Phina would think that Kyra would win any battle, but Sapphire gave off an unusual pressure. Was she truly just a nurse?

"That's enough, Sapphire-chan," Doctor Oleson ordered. "Your being rude. Think of the patient. Undue stress in the air can be felt unconsciously, you know? It's highly inappropriate and unprofessional to raise it."

"You're one to talk!" Everyone screamed angrily at the comedic doctor.

"But, yeah, we should hurry and treat Bell-kun," Sapphire nodded. "Should we give him healing potion, Sensei?"

"I don't think that's necessary," he said. "They're a commodity. Bell-kun can be treated the old fashioned way, however, I imagine I might have to reconsider if the elf-chan didn't go out of her way to heal him with her magic." He winked at Phina, who grew bashful. "Just get him a stretcher and move him to the office."

"Yes, Oleson-sensei," Sapphire said respectfully before going to get a stretcher from a room and coming back to put Bell on it, then took him back to the doctor's office. After saying he'll say when he's done treating Bell, the doctor went to do his job.

"That was probably more dramatic than it need to be," Nim muttered. "Kyra-san, should we not go to the others to explain what happened?"

"We should," Kyra nodded before turning to face the Augustine's. "I'm sorry, but could one of you please show Nim-chan the way to the mayor's home?"

"I would even if you didn't ask," Kirk said with a grin. "I'm ready whenever you are, young lady."

"Thank you, sir," Nim said politely.

"Do you two want to stay here?" Kirk asked his wife and daughter. They both said yes, saying that they still needed to thank Bell for what he did. Subsequently, Nim and Kirk left to go to the mayor's.

* * *

"Would you like anything to drink, Kuda-kun?" The mayor asked Kuda when they entered his home. His house was decorated with furniture, such as a fireplace, a set of couches, a rocking chair, coffee table, etc. A typical home it was. Waiting for them was a pretty woman in her 20s with blonde hair tied back in a bun. She wore a dark pantsuit with dark pants. It was quite similar to what the guild staff wore at Orario. Only difference, she had a black long-sleeved blazer as opposed to the guild receptionists sleeveless vests. "We have a great variety, except for alcohol. 'Fraid I have ridiculously low tolerance for the stuff."

"I'll just have water, thank you," Kuda said.

"Very well," the mayor nodded. "Ah, this is my grandaughter, Monica-chan. She also acts as my assistant and secretary. She's very reliable."

"It's a pleasure, Monica-san," Kuda smiled and lowered his head. "I am Kuda."

"Likewise, Kuda-san," she nodded. "Shall I get water for your friends outside?"

"I wouldn't want to trouble you," Kuda said. "There are about 30 of us. Besides, I'm almost positive that some of them will whine about not getting alcohol."

"It isn't a problem, I assure you," she insisted. "I've worked in the local bar for over a year. I'm very used to rowdy drunkards and the like. Besides, I have always wanted to meet the adventurers of Orario."

"If you're sure, then please," Kuda obliged.

"I will bring you your water momentarily," Monica bowed before going to the kitchen.

"She's a good one," the mayor chuckled.

"She'd make a good guild receptionist," Kuda laughed.

"Would she now?" The mayor led Kuda to his office. Inside there was a large mahogany desk with a huge wind behind it and huge rug under it. Also there were several well crafted drawings of certain people. The mayor sat in his seat and gestured for Kuda to sit in the seat across from him. "So, Kuda-kun, I believe we both know why we are here?"

"Yes," Kuda nodded, his expression composed. "But I just want to confirm. You know about the old man, right?"

"You mean that he is actually the god known as Zeus?" The mayor asked the question that was already answered. "And that he's alive, not dead? And that you are-"

"Alright, you know," Kuda stopped him. "Good. You were the one who took care of Bell-kun after… well, you know?"

"That is true." he answered.

"Thank you," Kuda nodded, a small smile on his face. "I mean it."

"Please, children are a blessing," the mayor smirked. "And Bell-kun really is a good kid. Plus, Monica-chan adores him. Unfortunately, neither she nor I have been been really able to connect with him very well. He's still grieving over his loss. Not that we blame him, of course."

"I see," Kuda said hollowly. He was shocked at himself by how baad he felt hearing that Bell was feeling lonely over the old man's "death". He felt it was his fault Bell was suffering. "I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Yes, well, Bell-kun has a right to grieve and it's only been a week," the mayor babbled. He seemed to have difficulty finding what to say next. "...Look, we both know why you're here. To take Bell-kun to live with you. The old man wanted it this way. I can't- GYAh!"

 _GLARE_

"What-" Kuda shivered, feeling an intense gaze from behind him. Hesitantly, he slowly turned his head back to see Monica giving him the evil eye. In her hands was a silver tray that had two glasses of water and a now empty glass water jug. Her glare radiated the most primal of cold fury.

"M-Monica-chan," the mayor stuttered, fearful. Kuda couldn't imagine that feeling so scared was good for his ticker. "Is something the matter…?"

"I heard," she said darkly.

"Heard what exactly?"

"The adventurers, they said that they were here to take Bell-kun with them," she explained, the venom seeping from her words. "Grandpa, you never said that Zeus Familia was here for something like that."

"W-Well, it slipped my mind…" He said meekly, however, Kuda had a hunch it was due to more than just old age that the old man failed to mention this rather important piece of news.

"This isn't something you just forget," She said, clearly not buying it.

"I'm sorry… it was just-"

"You know what, you aren't actually important to this story," Monica said, walking vigorously to her grandfather's desk and roughly dropping the tray on it. It was a miracle that the glasses of water didn't fall over. She focused her attention onto Kuda, who was sitting there feeling awkward as he watched the one sided argument. As if interrogating him, Monica looked at him with a discerning gaze. Her blue eyes peered directly into Kuda's dark coal eyes with a certain icy. If Kuda was a masochist, or if he didn't have a love, he may have enjoyed being looked at so intensely. But he wasn't and he does, so, right now, he felt very uncomfortable. The pressure Monica was giving off felt equivalent to a veteran adventurers gaze. "I'm no detective, so no matter how long I stare, I won't be able to properly judge your personality, so I'll just state my feelings. I will admit that there are definitely better people to take care of him than a busy mayor and a woman who's inexperienced in childcare. I will give you that, aside from growing up in the same same village, we have no real connection. I'll even admit that the reason Bell-kun hasn't been able to get close to us is perhaps because we aren't the ones who can heal his broken heart. However, even if we aren't related by blood, I know him. We played together whenever his grandpa and mine were busy talking. I think he's cute and I love him. I think of him as my little brother and I believe we can get closer with time…" Monica's lips began to tremble and she clenched her teeth tightly. She clawed the desk with enough force that she left grooves on the desk with her fingernails. "B-But if perhaps…. If there is someone better than us… than me… then I will have no choice but to hold back my tears… and send him off with a smile and a hug. I'll do that because I love him."

"Monica-san…"

"But allow me to ask you this," she continued, interrupting Kuda. "Can you be there for him? Can you be proper role model for him? Can you be strict, but also fair? Can you make him happy? Can you be his parent…?"

Kuda's eyes widened as he faced this woman who loved a child who she wasn't even related as if he were her own kin. Her resolve… it was not inferior to a warrior who has resolved to put his life on the line for the sake of achieving his goals, perhaps greater. To her, at least that's how it seemed to Kuda, giving up Bell was just as bad, if not worse than, as losing her life.

"If you can, then I will accept this with a smile on my face…" She finished her monologue with one final sentence and pulled away from him. This was good, because Kuda couldn't continue to look into her eyes, or else be overpowered by the intensity of her feelings. He contemplated her words and his own intentions. In truth, he truly wanted to be in Bell's life, to be an active factor in his life. However, he also wanted one other thing. He want it with a burning passion. If he needed to, he would almost certainly use Bell as the trump card to accomplish Zeus Familia's ultimate mission. Yet… was it okay to raise him just for that? Of course not! It would be no different than treating him as a tool and Kuda was not okay with that.

"Monica-san," Kuda said, standing up from his chair to face the young woman with his own resolve. Monica was tall, but Kuda was half a head taller and body width added to the size difference, yet she was not the least bit intimidated. Kuda's black coal eyes looked into her blue ocean eyes. He also put both of his hands on both of her shoulders. He was feeling heated, and wanted to put all of his emotions and feelings into words. "I don't know if I can-no- if we can take care of him as well and as lovingly as you, but we'll do our best. That's because I love him too! Bell-kun is apart of our family as well! I am-"

"Sorry to interrupt but- Kuda-san?! What are you doing!?" Nim walked in to the mayor's office without knocking and when she saw Kuda looking into a beautiful young woman's eyes with such passion, her imagination couldn't help but go into a spiral. "Are you cheating on Kyra-san?! You can't! You'll be killed! Hell, all of the women will kill you! Are you really going to put lust before your life!"

"Nim-chan, it isn't like that!" Kuda insisted desperately. He knew from experience that if he didn't clear this misunderstanding up _right now_ he would be paying for it much later. And it would be painful. "I-I was just-"

"It was my fault," Monica interjected, waving her hand to stop Kuda. "I was hitting on Kuda-san without knowing he already had a special lady in his life. He was just trying to let me down easy. Isn't that right, Kuda-san?"

"W-What?" Kuda was slow to follow on Monica's lead. "Uh… y-yeah, I guess…"

"Really?" Nim asked, surprised.

' _There's no way she'll buy this!_ ' Kuda thought panickedly.

"It's unfortunate, but I suppose I should've anticipated Kuda-san having a lover," Monica continued. "Alas, I suppose I will have to continue to struggle on in my journey of finding love."

' _Isn't she over selling it…?_ ' Kuda thought.

"Ah, I see," Nim nodded. "Don't worry about it. You aren't alone, miss. Kuda-san's charm has left many victims. You see, he's a very popular man. Many women, including a large faction of the ones in our familia, have been charmed by Kuda-san's looks and/or passion. I had heard that it caused quite the problem for the familia once upon a time, but, eventually, Kuda-san chose Kyra-san. Of course, all of that was before my time."

"Is that so…?" Monica side-eyed Kuda, looking both amused and annoyed. Most likely, she was amused by the story itself, but annoyed by the fact that a playboy was trying take Bell away from her.

'S _he's buying this… no, more importantly, she is making me sound like a degenerate,_ ' Kuda thought, depressed. "N-Nim-chan… was there a reason you came inside? In fact, weren't you with Kyra and Phina-chan to deal with those monsters?"

"Monsters?" Monic and the mayor said curiously.

"Oh, right," Nim said, remembering the reason she had come. "The good news is, Kyra-san killed all of the monsters and no one was killed, however, Bell-kun was seriously injured."

"Bell-kun?!" Kuda, Monica, and the mayor, who was awkwardly sitting through the scene between Kuda and his granddaughter, yelled in distress.

"Don't worry!" Nim quickly said. "Bell-kun is fine now. Phina healed the majority of his injuries and we took him to the doctor with a horrible sense of humor to finish his treatment."

"Horrible sense of humor…?" Kuda said, confused.

"The point is, he's being treated at the doctor's house and Kyra-san and Phina are there right now. "I assume you want to go?"

"I definitely do," Monica announced, starting towards the door. "Bell-kun is still technically our responsibility until we've resolve our current… positions."

"I'm going as well," the mayor announced, getting up from his chair an "Like she said, he's still our responsibility.

"Uh… Kuda-san?" Ignorant of what the mayor and Monica were talking about, Nim was looking for clarification from her leader as they walked past her.

"Of course I'm going," Kuda declared also starting for the door. However, even as he thought about an injured Bell, he also remembered how Dorwen had cared enough about Bell to ask them to be his family, and how Wilna had said that all of the villagers were good people, and just a moment ago when Monica had tearfully asked him if he was prepared to become Bell's parent and bear all f the responsibility that entailed. If he was, then, even though it would break her heart, she would let go of Bell, for his sake.

After all of that, Kuda could be sure of one thing. Bell was very loved. Now the question was whether he could match that love.

* * *

 **What do you think? Is it okay for Kuda and Zeus Familia to take over guardianship of Bell just because they knew his grandfather (Zeus)? What is Zeus Familia's true purpose in coming for Bell?**

 **Read & Review**


	5. Bell's Dream

**I apologize for the long update, I kept getting stuck at certain parts. You all can understand that, I hope.**

 **So, I bought the latest english release of the Danmachi Light Novels, volume 11, and it was awesome. To those of you who haven't read the LNs before, read them. They're really good. I think any book that can keep me glued to the pages the way Omori-sensei has these last few volumes proves that writer has true talent. I'm definitely going to get Familia Chronicle and Sword Oratoria Volume 6 which are coming out tomorrow.**

 **Please read and review.**

Chapter 5

Bell's Dream

 _Bell's consciousness drifted in an endless white space that clearly wasn't apart of reality. The young boy floated there, like a body in water dazed and sore. The pain he felt wasn't nearly as intense as when he took the full brunt of the goblin's swing twice, but it was still more than a little irksome. As he drifted in the endless space, dead eyed and confused, Bell was mostly sure that he was dreaming, yet part of him wondered whether or not he was.._

" _Am I dead…?" He asked himself quietly, assuming no one would answer him, however…_

" _You did well, Bell," a voice said from nowhere, making Bell break out of his daze and immediately search for the source of the voice. His motives weren't simple curiosity, but something else. He_ _ **knew**_ _this voice. He was sure of it, yet unsure. It was impossible for him to hear this voice. The only way he could be hearing it is by dying._

" _T-That voice…!" Bell flailed in the white space like an inexperienced swimmer in the middle of the ocean. He attempted to move in every direction to find the man behind the voice, but every movement was an effort, yet he did not quit. Despite his efforts, Bell could not see a single other life form in the white void he was in. At least, that was until a bright great blue light that shined like sun and was cast over his whole body. The light was so bright, that he had to avert his eyes to avoid getting blinded. It was so warm and soothing. Like being in front of a flame on a cold winter night, but better. His injuries… the pain he felt was weakening. He was feeling better?! "Why… do I feel so good?"_

" _The light… somebody out there is healing you, my boy," the voice explained. Bell knew it was coming from the light. Hearing it reminded Bell of his previous objective. Despite how bright it was, he forced himself to look directly at it. He just had a feeling he needed to see what it was covering. After a moment's look, Bell could make out a silhouette. It was the figure of a tall, muscular person. Most likely male. The figure also had a beard. Bell instantly knew his suspicions were correct. This man was…_

" _G-Grandpa…!" The little youth screamed tearfully. He desperately tried to move forward, but couldn't. It was as though some strong force was holding him back, preventing him from going into the light. "I-I can't move forward?!"_

" _You did really well out there, Bell," his grandfather's voice continued. "You were even kind of heroic."_

" _Heroic? What are you-" Finally remembering the events from before, Bell's eyes widened. "C-Clarabeth-san! What happened to her?! Is she she safe?!"_

" _That's something you'll have to find out for yourself, my boy," Bell's grandfather's voice answered._

" _Myself… but I am dead, aren't I?" Bell said, confused. He was sure he was dead after taking that monster's attack. If he wasn't, then… "We wouldn't be talking if I wasn't dead, right?"_

" _You were in pain up until a moment ago, no," the voice of his deceased relative asked, although it appeared he already knew the answer to his question._

" _Y-Yeah…" Bell answered, taking a look at his hands, then he inspected his body. He still felt some pain, but the warmth emanating from the light outweighed the discomfort._

" _The pain you felt, the warmth you are feeling right now," the figure of Bell's grandfather continued. "They are all proof that you are alive. Do not underestimate yourself, Bell. You are my grandson and I believe in you, so believe in yourself. I know you won't die so easy."_

" _But you…!" Died. That was what Bell wanted to say. But he could not. He tried, once again, to force himself forward, to get closer to the man he admired, but it was a futile struggle. He was as close as he was ever going to get._

" _Don't stay focused on me, my boy," he advised sternly. "You must move on. Move past the tragedy and the hurt with eyes that only see the path ahead. Stay fixated on someone who's behind you… you're only deterring your own growth."_

" _I-I don't understand," Bell shouted, tears falling from his eyes. It was frustrating to be able to get a glimpse of his form, but not actually being able to go to him. "If you are not there, then I'm all alone."_

" _Ah, you think so, huh," he scoffed. "My boy, as long as you keep moving forward, as long as you never stop moving, you'll, eventually, find the things you truly want."_

" _I will…?"_

" _I'm certain," his grandfather assured confidently. "Now let's get back to the original topic at hand. You did well saving, Clarabeth-chan. You've made your first steps on becoming a hero."_

" _W-Well… I just wanted to save her, so…" Bell bashfully tried to explain his reasons, however nothing he said truly reasonable. "There was no real reason to it."_

" _Hahaha, that's good. You don't need another reason, right?" Bell's grandfather laughed goodnaturedly. "But, seriously, Bell. You certain could've done worse saving Clarabeth-chan. You remember? We used to always pass her by when we'd go to the market. I always knew she'd grow up to be a beauty. Her bombshell of a mother was proof of that, right. Woo mama!"_

" _Yeah… wait what?"_

" _But you can't just stop there, kiddo," His grandfather continued on his heartwarming-turned-perverse speech. "You've got to save_ _ **all**_ _of the girls, be they humans, elves, or demi-humans. Save them and be a hero. That way, you can get a harem!"_

" _That's… That is…" Bell was truly speechless. He could think of nothing to say in the face of grandfathers questionable words._

" _Right now, you are too young to partake in the true adult fun, but you can probably get at least a kiss from Clarabeth-chan. At the very least, she won't ever forget the hero who saved her."_

" _A k-kiss?!" Bell's face grew as red as a tomato at the thought of being kissed by Clarabeth. He wasn't too young to acknowledge that she was a very pretty girl. "From Clarabeth-san?!"_

" _Of course! Being a hero is all about getting girls!"_

" _That can't be true!" Bell couldn't help but scream at his grandfather's crazy and morally questionable definition of being a hero._

" _Well… true, the girls are just a perk," his grand father admitted before turning serious. "A true hero isn't necessarily the strongest. Nor is he the smartest. A true hero is someone who fights for the ones he chooses to protect, no matter the odds and no matter how banged up he gets. Bell… you can be a hero!"_

" _Grandpa…!" Bell was in awe of his grandfather's words. He hung onto every letter like he was bringing his salvation. His grandpa gave him his answer! He said it! He really said it! "I… can really become one? A hero ?!"_

" _Goodbye, Bell." His grandfather didn't answer him. Instead, the blue light glew even brighter. It shined even more magnificently than Before. It was blinding. "Until the day we meet again."_

" _Wait, grandpa-" Bell tried to go to him, but then, as if exploding, the light expanded instantly, consuming him. Instinctually, Bell covered his eyes with his arms in the face of the radiance. He was completely enveloped by the warm light. "So bright!"_

 _After a minute, Bell uncovered his eyes and found himself lying front-side down in a field of flowers. He was confused as to what had just happened. He was sure this wasn't the cemetery, at least. There were no graves. In fact, he felt strangely at peace. The sweet smell of the flowers, the comfort he felt laying on the ground… it all felt kind of… maternal. He didn't want to get up. He wanted to lay there forever, if possible. He also wanted to contemplate what his grandfather had said._

" _He said it," Bell whispered giddily. " He really said it. That I can be a hero…!"_

Back in reality.

Kyra, Phina, Anna, and Clarabeth waited patiently in the doctor's living room. They were all eager to see if Bell would be alright. To pass the time, Anna asked if it would be okay if they could tell some stories about their adventures. Neith adventurer minded. Phina decided to tell them the story of her first trek into the dungeon. She was very young back then. It was right after she joined Zeus Familia. It was a small party of three with her, Kyra, and Celesta, her teacher. The two older women acted as observers for her, only helping if things got dicey. After receiving Zeus's blessing, she was perfectly capable of killing weak monsters with some effort. When she managed to clear her first floor, she was very happy. Honestly, it was a very small feat. Anybody could do it. But she was the one who did it and that gave her confidence.

"You were a bit _too_ confident back then, Phina-chan," Kyra mused. "You just kept going and going until you reached Floor 5. You do realize that you could've died if we weren't there, right?"

"I-I may have been a bit too eager…" Phina admitted, blushing in embarrassment. "Once I tried to go to the fifth floor, Celesta-sama got mad and bonked me over the head with her staff. You know, all the moms of the familia could learn to be a bit more gentle?"

"Who're you calling a mom?" Kyra asked, glaring at her sharply, intimidating the young elf.

"And how did you become an adventurer, Kyra-san," Anna asked pleasantly.

"In my case, it wasn't a very interesting reason," Kyra began. "I grew up dirt poor and I needed money. If you have no other skills, then becoming an adventure is the fastest way to get money. Sorry if that changes your opinion of me."

"Not at at all," Anna said, waving her hand. "If anything, it makes you more more relatable."

"It sounds like being an adventurer takes all kinds," Clarabeth said. "Is it fun?"

"Fun, huh," Kyra said thoughtfully. This got the two ladies thinking. "It all depends on your goals, honestly. If you want money, it becomes a job."

"If you want fame, it becomes hard work," Phina added.

"But if you want an adventure…"

"It's definitely fun," Phina finished for Kyra.

"Well, that's a terrible explanation," Kyra admitted. "But it all depends on what you want."

"I guess being an adventurer is bit more complicated than one would think," Anna said.

"That's one way of looking at it, I suppose," Kyra smirked.

"Sorry if I'm intruding," Sapphire said as she entered the living room with a silver tray carrying five cups of hot tea in her hands. "But I've brought tea."

"Thank you," the four of them said as they each took a cup of tea.

"This is pretty good," Kyra admitted after taking her first sip. The others agreed as they each took a sip of their own. "You aren't too bad, Sapphire-san."

"Thank you, Kyra-san," Sapphire smiled. Despite the hostile nature the two had had against one another, being given good tea and being thanked for making it was enough to make any tension disappear a bit.

"Sapphire-san here makes some of the best tea in the village," Anna said, putting in her two cents.

"I'm hardly as good as Soriya-san or Alexa-san," Sapphire retorted.

"So… I'll ask what I want to know," Kyra said with a serious tone, putting an abrupt end to the small talk. "How is Bell-kun?"

"For starters, we had to give him some blood replenishing potion," Sapphire began. Phina expected that Bell needed some blood. Her magic healed injuries, but it didn't restore lost blood. "As for his injuries… he was mostly bruised, however, his right shoulder was fractured. We wrapped it up and will put it in a sling once he wakes up. We also force fed him some painkillers."

"When will he wake up?" Kyra asked.

"Hard to say," Sapphire answered. "Oleson-sensei say he might be out til tonight. I agree with him. He must've lost a lot of energy in a short period of time. Having said all that, he'll be fine." Sapphire added, smiling. "The doctor's an insensitive twat, but he's very good at what he does. Right now he's keeping an eye on him."

"I see…" Kyra sighed in relief. "Well, I suppose this is the best I can hope for, rather I should be thankful that it wasn't more serious."

"I agree," Sapphire nodded.

"Anyway, since we have some spare time, I would like to ask you something, Sapphire-san," Kyra said after taking another sip of her tea. "Your concern with Bell-kun… how well do you know him, exactly?"

The other three females were surprised by the sudden question. Sapphire was also caught off guard. However, she began explaining things. "For starters, you all agree that Old Man Cranel was a ridiculous pervert, yes?"

"Of course," Kyra nodded.

"Who wouldn't?" Phina said.

"There isn't a single woman in the village who would disagree with that," Anna nodded, showing equal displeasure for the man. Only young Clarabeth, who didn't know the old man too well, was confused.

"Indeed," Sapphire smirked. No one seemed to have any reservations about insulting the so-called deceased.

"You see, I actually came to this village about 5 years ago," Sapphire revealed. "I came here to learn medicine from Sensei. We met in a certain city while he was outside of the village for business. At the time, I had desired with all my heart to be a doctor, but medical school is expensive and I just couldn't afford it. It was frustrating, but I just accepted that it wasn't going to happen. However, I would always find myself longfully staring at the med school building. One day, it was there that Oleson-sensei approached me and asked if I wanted to be a doctor. At first, I thought he was just an old perv trying to make a move on me, but once I got to know him, I realized he was sincere. Eventually, he asked me to become his student and work for him as a nurse here. Around that time… I got acquainted with the old man."

"Ah, now I see," Phina said, realizing how Sapphire and the old man knew each other. Her face was comparable to that of a disappointed granddaughter embarrassed by her perverted grandfather's deplorable actions.

"You were a beautiful nurse that just arrived at the village," Kyra said, beginning a narration of the theory that she and Phina shared. "The old man got smitten with you so he made regular visits to this clinic regardless of whether he was sick or not. Am I right?"

"Almost dead on," Sapphire nodded with a dry expression. "However, there's a teeny little fact you didn't get. Eventually, I grew irritated with that perverse old man and wouldn't let him in even when Oleson-sensei said it was okay- personally, I think they were in on it together. Strength in numbers and all that phooey. So, Old Man Cranel brought a secret weapon..."

"You don't mean…" Kyra's eyes narrowed and her expression turned dangerous.

"He used Bell-kun to get inside," Sapphire revealed, her expression equally dangerous.

"That scumbag!" Kyra snarled. "He used him, a little boy, just to ogle at a beautiful woman?! What the hell has he been doing these past 10 years?!"

"At first, it was legitimate reasons such as a common cold," Sapphire explained. "But, quickly, they always became the most irrelevant and ridiculous things. A small paper cut here, a random sneeze there, and he even brought little Bell-kun in because he thought he was _too_ healthy. Honestly!"

"We're sorry! We're Sorry! We're sorry a thousand times over!" Kyra and Phina bowed their heads and raised them again and again and again until Sapphire stopped them.

"It isn't as though I blame you two," Sapphire assured, holding up her hands. "Nor do I blame Bell-kun."

"Thank you," Kyra sighed before scowling. "But, honestly, that old man. I don't believe him. Using Bell-kun to make a move on a beautiful woman… he was so pathetic. He hasn't changed one bit."

"You mean he has always done things like that?" Sapphire asked, annoyed yet not surprised.

"Let's just say the old coot would do anything to get a girl," Kyra mused.

"Undoubtedly, Cranel-san was a dodgy womanizer," Anna said. "However, nobody can deny that he loved Bell-kun with all his heart."

"..."

"..."

Kyra and Sapphire became silent. Anna spoke the truth. Sapphire remembered how good the old man was his little grandson. Standing side by side with him, picking him up when he fell down, encouraging him when his spirits were low… always beside him, and, now that he was gone, Bell was by himself. Kyra remembered 10 years ago, when a certain old god promised to look after a certain infant as if he were his own grandson, while his parent continued their struggle against their hated enemy. Even Kyra could not deny that he was… admirable. Yes, despite sharing the mutual opinion that he was an irredeemable pervert, both women internally admit that he, Bell's grandfather, was a good man.

"Y-Yeah…" Sapphire said unpleasantly.

"The old man was a good guy," Kyra admitted reluctantly, as if saying something truly humiliating and disgusting.

"Yes, but he was still a scummy pervert," Anna said with a bright smile, contradicting her words.

' _Make up your mind already, would you?!_ ' Kyra and Sapphire thought with irritation.

"But to Bell-kun… he was his only family," Anna said sadly before embracing her daughter tenderly. "Before today, I couldn't honestly say I understood how he felt… losing a family member the way he did, but I thought I did. I had lost both of my parents to illness a long time ago, but I had the time to accept it, but Bell-kun didn't. His was a sudden loss… just like it could've been with my Clarabeth. I feel disgusted with myself thinking so, but I am actually very happy that Bell-kun took the hit for her… he has a sturdy body, but if Clarabeth had received a full blow from that thing, then… I don't even want to think about it!"

"Mama…" Clarabeth was shocked by how emotional her mother had gotten, but it was understandable, or more accurately, it was expected. Perhaps it was because Bell had been the most prominent person in her thoughts right now, but it was only now starting to dawn on her what might've happened had Bell not come to her rescue. The powerful swing of the goblin's club, in no uncertain terms, nearly shattered Bell, who was considerably sturdier than her due to working diligently as a farm boy. Had she been one to receive both blows… no question, she would have died. The very thought sent a chill down Clarabeth's spine and made her instinctively hug her mother back, trembling vigorously.

Watching them, the ladies felt both uncomfortable and sympathetic. They had just faced death for the first time. It was not something that they could just brush off as if it never happened. They'd get over it with a bit of time, the adventurer ladies were sure, but for now, they needed time to process things and calm down their shaken spirits. It was something that they, as adventurers who constantly faced death in the dungeon, could understand.

As Kyra watched them, she couldn't help but feel envious of Anna. She could embrace her child without shame, because she was a good parent. But her… Kyra felt that she didn't even qualify to be a mother.

"So, please, explain what had happened, Nim," Kudo requested as he, Nim, the Mayor, Monica, and the rest of Zeus Familia in tow walked rapidly to the doctors home. Kirk said he was going to go explain to the ones who had escaped the goblin attack before Kyra and company had arrived that everything was fine now. Needless panic may ensue if he did not.

"Yes, please do," Monica urged the young chienthrope girl, looking anxious. She, Kuda, Nim, and her grandfather were at the from with the rest of the familia following closely behind.

"Well…" Nim explained from the beginning. She started by saying that she and Phina had arrived right after Kyra and that Bell had gotten seriously injured by protecting Clarabeth from the monsters. Phina healed him, but could completely heal him. So, after Kyra killed the goblins, they took him to the doctor with a horrible sense of humor. "Sorry, we were just weren't quick enough to save him before things got bad."

"No," Kuda shook his head, smiling gently. "You all moved as quickly as possible and dealt with the problem swiftly before anyone was killed. I can't ask for more than that. God job, Nim." He patted her head in a fatherly fashion, much to Nim's enjoyment.

"Oooh, but I barely did anything," she said while holding cheeks with a pleased face. "All I did was act as transport."

"Oh, yeah, that's true," Kida nodded, removing his hand from her head.

"Don't just agree with me!" Nim raged.

"Kidding, kidding," he assured, laughing at Nim's irritated expression before smiling tenderly again. "…but, really, you all did good."

"Hmph," Nim pouted, rolling her eyes.

"I want to thank you as well," Monica said. "I don't what I'd do if Bell-kun had gotten… anyway, thank you for protecting him and our villagers."

"As mayor I also want to thank you," the elderly mayor said graciously.

"Oh, um, you're welcome," Nim said uncomfortably. She wasn't used to receiving so much praise. "But like I said, it was Kyra-san and Phina who did all the real work. Honestly, it's Bell-kun who was the real hero today. I didn't actually see it, but, apparently, when he saw that that girl was in trouble he made a mad dash and intercepted that monster that was about to hurt the innocent girl and blocked it's attack with his whole body. He even lost consciousness while on his feet. It was as if he was telling the girl and the monster that even if he died he wouldn't let it hurt her. It was really cool."

"I'm not sure how I should feel about that…" Monica muttered.

"Is that so… huh?" Kuda muttered, his expression unreadable. In all honesty, he was pleased with Bell for doing exactly what a man ought to in such a situation. But… he felt another emotion he wasn't familiar with? Was it worry? As an adventurer of a powerful familia, he felt worry for his comrades while in the dungeon constantly, but this felt different. He didn't like hearing Bell had gotten hurt. Of course he wouldn't. Ignoring everything else, Bell was still a kid. He shouldn't have gotten hurt. They… he should've been faster. They- Zeus Familia- were getting sloppy. Just because they were weaker than before did not mean that they should condone this sort of incompetence… Kuda could not help but think these thoughts for some reason. ' _Am I the overprotective type?_ '

"You shouldn't feel too responsible, Kuda-san," Nim said.

"Eh? What-"

"Your thoughts are written all over your face," the young chienthrope girl said.

"Hm… you didn't seem like the type to overthink things, but," Monica said, giggling as she walked beside Kuda. "Well, you certainly wear your heart on your sleeve. Can't say I dislike that."

"Oh, um…" Kuda could not respond as his face became red. He had always been like this. An awkward guy that was easy to put in a corner, in a certain sense. He had hoped that that part of him would change as he got older, but it didn't seem like it. ' _Honestly, will I ever change?_ '

"You need to quit being such a worry wart, you moron," a blonde werewolf man said coldly. It was difficult to tell with his cloak on, but this werewolf had a very powerful build that matched up well with his Level 6 status. His name was Alystar Fenras. He and Kuda have known each other for a long time. Kuda would describe him as a good hearted person who insisted on acting like mr. cool. "Kids get hurt. Why worry about something that you had no control over?"

"I-I'm not really worrying…" he insisted.

"You really are," teased a young looking male prum said. laughing at Kuda.

"Keto, I swear I'll," Kuda muttered a threat at his prum peer.

"Well, the fact that you worry so much about other people is one of your good points, Kuda," Celesta said.

"It's cute if nothing else," a tall and beautiful amazon said.

"You guys," he growled, getting aggravated by his familia's teasing of him. "Just shut up!"

"Hah… quick to anger, huh," Alystar muttered. The familia continued on until they finally reached doctor's home.

"Well, we're here," Nim announced, feeling more anxious than she thought she would. It was now or never. Bell would meet Zeus Familia.

"Ah, you've all arrived," Kyra, who had sensed her familia's arrival and opened the front door, said.

"Hey, Kyra," Kuda said. "We heard what happened. How is he?"

"Oh, so you are all Zeus Familia," a blue haired woman-Sapphire- said as appeared beside Kyra. "Bell-kun will be just fine. The Doctor has assured that much. But for now, please come inside, Zeus Familia. Oh, Monica-san and the mayor are here too?"

"Hello, Sapphire," Monica said politely. "Thank you for treating Bell-kun."

"Yes, thanks, Sapphire-chan," The mayor said.

"It was nothing," she said. "Please, come in."

"Sorry about the crowd, Sapphire-san…"

"...It's fine."

Sapphire said that to Kuda, but she looked a bit too irritated that the whole of Zeus Familia was now crowding in her medical teachers living room. After the familia came in, the living room was miraculously able to hold the 30 man party, however, the room was now so crowded that one could not even bend their elbows without bumping into someone. Needless to say, everyone was feeling quite claustrophobic. Also, Kuda and Sapphire was leaning back against a wall perpendicular to the kitchen opening.

"Hower, this is quite irksome," she sighed.

"Sorry…" Kuda sighed. His fellow familia members did not seem the least bit bothered by their cramped conditions as they socialized with one another. One could say that being able to adapt to a situation such as this without a single complaint was one of Zeus Familia's strong points, but Kuda didn't see it like that. He saw it as his Familia being way too lax and easy going for their own good. ' _Honestly, these guys are far too easy going. We're waiting for Bell-kun to wake up from a monster attack for crying out loud!_ '

"I guess this is really happening," Sapphire said quietly as she watched Zeus Familia clutter in the doctor's house living room. "You, Zeus Familia, are really here. I never would have expected people of your reputation to come here, a remote village. I must admit, I'm overwhelmed."

"You don't sound like it," Kuda muttered. This woman had shown to be passionate about some things and cool and calm about other subjects. Although, Kuda had only seen her calm side.

"The werewolf, Alystar Fenras, the high elf, Celesta Lodos, the amazon, Lezana Askas, the dwarf, Baren Trogger, and, the one I had the pleasure of meeting, Kyra Slavis," Sapphire said, listing the names of some of the strongest members of the familia. "And many more. These are all big names of the city of Orario. There are still others to be named, such as you, Kuda, captain of Zeus Familia."

"You're well informed, Sapphire-san," Kuda said, unphased by her knowledge of his familia.

"I just know what is common knowledge," she said. "And maybe a little more."

"I'm guessing the 'little more' comes from your time as a Rakian soldier?" Kuda said cooly. "Sapphire DeLousise-san, one of Ares's top 5 soldiers. His few Level 4s. At least, they were until they either died or went missing. If I remember right, 2 died in accidents, 1 contracted a terrible illness and died from it, and the last 2 went missing in action. I'm guessing you belong to the missing?"

"...!" Sapphire's eyes widened in shock, but she quickly recomposed herself, putting a small, empty smile on her face as if preparing herself to resign to a less than pleasant fate. "I can't really be surprised, I suppose. You _are_ Zeus Familia's captain after all. It would be weird if you didn't know that much."

"Well, I just remember the last war Ares launched against us," Kuda explained, smiling wryly. "You 5 were the most troublesome factor at that time. You stood out. It came through our information network about all of your fates."

"Hmph, I remember Ares-sama's previous campaign as well," Sapphire said, smiling bitterly. "And we were no match for the terrifying Zeus and Hera Familias. Not at all. It was a nightmare. It was because of that that I defected from Rakia to avoid being apart of any more of Ares-sama's war campaigns. Seriously, you people left me traumatized."

"S-Sorry…" Kuda said dryly.

"You're too apologetic for an adventurer," she sighed. "I assume Kyra-san figured me out as well?"

"Probably, she's got an eye for former enemies. I'm sure the others guessed it too, if not they will eventually."

"So, what happens now?" Sapphire asked darkly. She really seemed to be expecting Kuda to hurt her on account of suspicion that she could be a Rakian spy. It was a rational suspicion. Of course, to protect a village, Kuda could by all rights sleigh Sapphire to prevent a potential risk from harming everyone. If nothing else, she could possibly have vengeful feelings against Zeus Familia for their part in defeating Rakia. "Will you kill me? Tell everyone about me?"

"How many people know?" Kuda asked, avoiding looking her in the eye. "In the village, I mean."

"Oleson-sensei and the mayor are the only ones who know," she answered. "I never wanted anyone else to know."

"I see," Kuda said before smiling. "You're rather calm."

"I always kind of knew that my reckoning would come one day," she explained. "I'm basically lying to to everyone. I deserve what I-"

"I'll save you the surprise, Sapphire-san," Kyra said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere right next to Sapphire, startling Kuda and the nurse.

"When did…?" Sapphire said, her heart racing.

"How do you always do that?" Kuda asked. For as long as he's known her, Kuda's wife had always been able to sneak up on people, even higher level adventurers. It was an impressive skill to say the least.

"Kuda won't cause you any trouble," Kyra explained, ignoring their questions and startled looks. "He's nice to almost all women and girls. It's one of his best and worst traits. Honestly, as his wife, it can be quite vexing, but I've long since accepted that he's the kind of man who belongs to everyone. I can at least be satisfied that I'm number 1."

"H-Hey, Kyra?" Kuda looked flabbergasted at his wife's description. "First Nim, now you? Why does everyone call me a womanizer?!"

"You're more of an accidental womanizer," she answered cooly. "But enough of that. Your secret is safe with us, Sapphire-san. You genuinely care about Bell-kun, so I can't think of you as an enemy, but if it turns out that you're just a liar who is only going to cause chaos, then I won't hesitate to cut off your head."

"I'll keep that in mind," she stated calmly. "And your right, I do care about Bell-kun as if he was my little brother. Honestly, in this current situation, you and this familia of yours are far more suspicious than me. Suddenly appearing out of nowhere the way you have… to be blunt, I can't trust you. Any of you. If you people turn out to be scum, then I'll use every dirty trick my brain can think up to take you all down."

"That's big talk from a run away soldier, I'm kind of curious to see if you can actually pull it off," Kyra smirked provocatively, looking completely different from the awkward lady who was carrying Bell to this doctor's house. Her expression matched what most would imagine a seasoned warrior woman should have. Fierce and frightening. Faced against the also intense glare from Sapphire, it looked like a spark of lightning was produced from the two battle trained lady face off. Even though he wasn't actually physically in the middle of it, Kuda sure felt like he was. He looked to his other familia members, who were but a step or two away from them, for help, but it looked like they hadn't noticed anything yet. No, it was more like they had noticed but were ignoring the situation and leaving Kuda to deal with this toxic problem.

' _Those traitors…!_ ' Kuda mentally cursed his familia for their cowardice, scowling hatefully at each and everyone of them. He was about to say something when the doctor announced himself loudly.

"Excuse me, everyone," the doctor, who already knew that Zeus Familia had arrived and was now crowding in his living room, said loud enough for everyone to hear him. "For those of you who don't know, I am Doctor Oswald Oleson. I just wanted to let everyone know that Bell-kun has woken up."

!

At that moment, the intense atmosphere created by Kyra and Sapphire instantly vanished. They now had looks of shock, relief, and happiness. A loud cheer erupted from the Zeus Familia, happy that the boy that they had come to see was okay. Kuda was also happily surprised that Bell had awoken so soon after they had arrived at the doctors home. But he was also feeling anxious. There would be no delays now. No monsters that needed to be killed. No business that needed doing. The only thing left was to meet him.

It was time to meet the boy who could be considered Zeus Familia's final member.

 **What will happen when Bell meets the Zeus Familia? How will Kyra and Sapphire's newly developed rivalry affect the future? One thing is for certain, Bell's life is about to take a new direction.**

 **Please read and review.**


	6. Loki Familia Meets Zeus Familia

**For starters, sorry for taking so long. I got stuck on a part and wasn't sure how to continue.**

 **This chapter features the story of how the original 3 Loki Familia members met Zeus Familia.**

* * *

Chapter 6

Zeus Familia and Loki Familia

 **A few minutes earlier…**

Bell had finally opened his eyes. Surprisingly, it only took a couple of hours at most for him to regain consciousness. Most likely, it was a combination of a natural toughness built from a lifetime of working on a farm, short as it was, and Phina quickly treating him. Of course, Bell didn't know that, having lost consciousness prior to being saved.

"Where… am I?" He asked in a dazed voice, laying on a bed. He didn't know why he felt so sore, but he could tell almost immediately where he was. After all, his grandfather had constantly forced him to come here numerous times for the most ridiculous reasons. "Is this the doctor's office?"

"Bell-kun!" Dr. Oleson exclaimed jovially. "You've woken up. How wonderful."

"Oleson-sensei?" Bell said, surprised. "Why am I-"

His eyes snapped open. It call came back to him like a brick had just hit his head. He was at the cemetery, visiting his grandfather's grave, when out of nowhere the goblins came rushing out of the woods armed with weapons. They would've certainly killed Clarabeth, a girl whose parents ran a clothing store, had Bell not ran into action and defended her with his body. He could still remember the blunt force of the goblins club hitting his unprotected back and the pain that came with it. After that, everything was a blank.

"M-Monsters, goblins… I, uh, we were attacked by them and…" he lifted himself up and felt a striking pain in his shoulder. He saw that he was shirtless and had bandages covering his shoulder area and his forehead. All this was too much for the ten year old boy. How the heck was he even still alive?

"Bell-kun," Dr. Oleson said placing a hand, gently, on the young boy's shoulder. He looked like a father soothing his child. "Calm yourself. Your body has been through a lot, so don't overexert yourself The monsters were dealt with. Fortunately, no one was killed."

"So everyone is safe," Bell sighed, smiling tiredly. "That's good… but what happened, Doctor?"

"You were saved," he answered.

"Saved? By who?" Off the top of his mind, Bell thought the dwarven miners could probably be capable of killing the goblins, but it wasn't as though the dwarves were professional adventurers or anything like that. For them to suddenly appear at a sudden attack and killing the monsters before anybody died seemed unlikely. Maybe it was that mystery person that showed up whenever the village was in serious trouble?

"Adventurers," Dr. Oleson said after a moment's hesitation. "Adventurers saved you, Bell-kun."

"What?"

"To be specific, a human, elf, and chienthrope protected the village this time."

"Dr. Oleson, you're confusing me."

"Hahaha… apologie, my boy, the ones who saved you are here right now. I'll go get them, so they can explain. You stay here and rest.

"But-"

"Rest," Dr. Oleson said with no room for debate. "That's the most important thing to do right now. Okay?"

"Okay…" Bell sighed, disappointed that he wasn't allowed to move, but more annoyed that he didn't know what was going on. "Can I ask one thing though?"

"What is it?"

"Clarabeth-san… she's okay right?"

The doctor smiled. "Because of you, Bell-kun, she didn't get a single scratch."

Bell's face lit up. "That's great!"

"It is, isn't it? Now, relax. I will tell everyone you are up."

"Alright," Bell nodded. "Thank you, Oleson-sensei."

"Anytime," he said before leaving the check up room, leaving Bell along on the bed.

"I… was saved?" He said to himself, processing it all. "By adventurers."

He had dreamt of meeting the adventurers of Orario since forever, but he never thought it'd be like this. He didn't think they'd save him. He thought he was going to die back then, but he lived. He wasn't sure how he felt about it all. Grateful? Yes, he was grateful, but… he was also excited for some reason.

"This is so surreal."

* * *

Meanwhile, as Bell and Zeus Familia were about to meet in the house of the doctor, in the city of Orario, in a building known as Twilight Manor, the captain of Loki Familia, one of the two largest and strongest familia, was doing some paperwork. Honestly, a familia having many members was certainly an advantage when it came to dungeon crawling, but it came with a lot of challenges. Providing for the familia members was one of them, along with managing the finances and paying the guild taxes. Once a familia reached a certain size, it needed a capable person, a capable captain, to manage things. Fortunately for the Loki Familia, Finn was that person, which was unfortunate for him. His responsibility came with a lot of boring busy work and much stress.

While it wasn't in the powerful prum's nature to complain, he did wish there was someone who could share his burden with him. "If I ever get married, hopefully it will be to someone who can help me with managing the familia," Finn muttered to himself in his empty office.

As he said that, the door to his office suddenly opened, letting in Tiona, Tione, Ais, and, one of their newest members, Lefiya.

"You girls?"

"Hey, Finn, tell us about Zeu Familia!" Tina demanded, much to Finn's surprise. Partly due to the suddenness of her demand, but mostly because of hearing the name of the famous familia he had admired once upon a time.

"What?"

"Idiot, don't talk so rudely to the captain!" Tione scolded her younger, more innocent sister for being so blunt with the man she yearned for.

"What is this all about?" Finn asked. "Or rather, why are you girls asking about Zeus Familia?"

"...We were at the Dian Cecht Familia pharmacy," Ais explained in her usual dry tone. "We were going to go earn some money in the dungeon, so we decided to buy some potions. Dian Cecht-sama was there with Airmid-san and when he saw us he was saying that our familia, Loki Familia, was growing up to be like Zeus Familia. He started to compare us with some of their members, saying I was like a lady named Kyra Slavis."

"He called Tione and me the next Lezana," Tiona added, her eyes as wide as the littlest child, filled with curiosity. "When we asked Dian Cecht-sama what Zeus Familia was like, he told us to ask you, Finn, because he said that you'd know more than him. So would you tell us about them, would ya? Would ya? Would ya, please?"

"What did I _just_ say?!" Tione bonked her sister on her head.

"That hurt…" Tiona groaned, rubbing the bulging bump on her head. "Stupid Tione."

"Hehehe…" Finn chuckled, not at the banter between the amazonian sisters, but at the youthful energy of their youngest and most promising members. Even he had to admit that they were cute. Also… "Zeus Familia, huh?"

"Can you tell us about them?" Tiona asked, wide eyed.

"You really want to know? All of you?"

"W-Well, if it is not too much trouble, Captain," Tione said shyly, her cheeks tinged red. "I would."

"I would, as well," Ais said. "I have heard a lot about how strong Zeus Familia was. I'd like to know more about them."

Finn smiled wryly. How typical of Ais, so obsessed with increasing her own strength, to be curious about how others obtained theirs. It was hard to say whether it was a bad habit or a good one, considering she was an adventurer. He turned his head towards the youngest of the girls. "And you, Lefiya?"

"Well… I had once heard that Zeus Familia had a great high elf in their ranks. I wanted to hear about her, if you are not too busy, Captain."

"I'm not, but…" Finn was hesitant. As he looked at the four young girls, he took in their innocence. Aiz and the amazons were 12 and Lefiya was 11. However, all of them were quite powerful for their ages. Aiz had recently achieved Level 4 and the sisters were getting close, as was Bete, and Lefiya would soon be Level 2, he was sure. So strong, so young, so good.

He admired and respected the Zeus Familia for all of their great feats… but that didn't change the fact that he had betrayed them. If the girls had heard about how the Loki Familia came to power, would they lose respect for him and leave? He honestly worried about that. But when he looked at their wide, expecting eyes, he had to appreciate how much they looked up to him. He had to believe that they wouldn't abandon him. After all, a man who can't even believe in those who follow him can never be the light of the pallum.

He smiled. "Sure, I'll tell you a story."

"Yay!" Tiona cheered as the other girls faces lit up, even Aiz's. As they cheered, the door to Finn's office suddenly opened. Coming in was Loki, holding two big bottles of liquor, Riveria, Gareth, Bete, Raul, and Aki.

"Finn, have a drink with us," Loki demanded, raising her bottles in the air. "Oh? Aiz-chan and the other girls are here too, hug? How convenient."

"What are you all doing here, exactly?" Finn asked.

"Well… Loki kept pestering us to drink with her, saying it was a season of festivities and that we should all drink together," Riveria explained with an irritated expression, yet still sounding regal. "She threatened to keep pestering us until we gave in, so here we are."

"Ah, I get it," Finn sighed. He knew better than anyone that when Loki really wanted something, she would do just about anything until she got it. Usually , that meant annoying her victim until they yielded.

"She's too big of a pain," Bete muttered in annoyance.

"That aside," Riveria said, glancing at the girls who were in the office. "What were you doing here with the girls, Finn?"

"Finn was going to tell us stories about Zeus Familia!" Tiona said excitedly.

"What?!" Loki screamed. "Why do you kids want to hear about that old pervert's brats!?"

"B-Because we heard that they were like heroes and stuff."

"They're just washed up has beens now!"

"Loki…" Riveria said in an icy tone, making her patron deity flinch. "Do not insult my cousin's familia."

"But-"

"Don't." In the face of Riveria's glare, Loki kept her mouth shut, leaned against the wall beside her, and pouted like a child scolded by their mother.

"So the high elf in Zeus Familia was your cousin, Riveria-sama?" Lefiya asked. Although, she wasn't really surprised since high elves were all related, but hearing the way she addressed her cousin and defended her Familia proved that they were close.

"Hm? Oh, yes, she is," Riveria answered, smiling like she was thinking of something pleasant. She looked nostalgic. "Truthfully, I had not had the opportunity to meet her until I had arrived in Orario. You see, my father was my cousins younger brother. However, my father didn't get along with him, because my uncle was considered something of a black sheep in our family. He , without any reservations, interacted with and studied the outside world. He even got along with dwarves if you can believe it." Riveria added, laughing. It was a rare treat for the Familia to see the upright elf smile.

"Your uncle sounds like a great man, Riveria-sama," Lefiya said, looking at Riveria in awe.

"Even I have heard stories of the only likeable elf in existence," Gareth joked. "From what I had heard, it was hard to believe that he was even an elf at all."

"Oh, shut up, would you," Riveria sighed, still smiling. "I admired my uncle greatly, but because of his poor relationship with my father, we never met, which lead to me never meeting my cousin until I came to Orario. Their relationship was so bad that my uncle even changed his family name."

"But you did meet her, right, Riveria?" Tiona asked.

"Yes, I did. She is a wonderful person who treated me warmly despite the bad blood between our fathers."

"So did you get meet to Zeus Familia?!"

"Actually, yes. It was a tremendous honor to get to meet them. I can't say we became anything more than casual acquaintances, but I did learn much from them."

"Yeah, they were great, no doubt," Gareth nodded. "Didn't you have a thing for Kuda, Riveria?"

"Really, you did?" Tiona said, surprised.

"I'm surprised," Tione said, equally shocked.

"I never knew," Ais said, surprised that her mother figure had someone she yearned for in a romantic sense.

"I'm not sure how I should feel about that…" Lefiya said.

"Wow, I can't imagine," Raul said.

"I've heard that Zeus Famila's Kuda Zeldon was a very popular guy," Aki added. "Even you weren't able to resist his charm, Riveria-san?"

"Heh, bet he didn't want to get with an old hag like you," Bete said rudely.

"W-Wrong! You're all wrong!" Riveria snapped, her face red. "I-I did not have feelings for Zeldon-san. I just admired him! That's it!"

"Hahaha," Gareth chuckled at Riveria's embarrassment. "Why was it him you fell for him anyway? Were Barron-aniki and Duford-aniki too studly for-"

Riveria grabbed Gareth's noses, as it was the biggest feature of his face, next to his beard. In face of Riveria's hate filled eyes, Gareth's words were stuck in his throat. "Say another word and I'll twist the nose off of your body, understand?"

Being a level 6, Riveria could very well tear the nose off of his face even if she didn't truly mean to, and judging by how angry she looked, she just might mean to. Frightful of that, Gareth nodded.

' _I had thought that we had grown out of our childish bickering, but I guess it's still a bit in us,_ ' Finn internally sighed. "You know, I was about to tell a story to the girls…"

"About the Zeus Familia, right?" Gareth said. "Sounds fun. I I'll join ye'. Speaking of which, do any of you kids know anything about them?"

"I know a bit," Aki said. "When I was a little girl, I used to want to meet the male cat person, Nelson Holwell. I heard he was a very powerful adventurer… and handsome."

"I-I used to hear about the human man, Hava Selts, Heracles," Raul said shyly. "He was the captain and an extremely powerful adventurer."

"Aye, those are good men to admire," Gareth approved before turning his attention to Bete. "And what say you,Bete?"

"I have no interest in a fallen familia," he answered coarsely.

"You know, Bete," Riveria said, annoyed. "Zeus Familia also had a werewolf in their elites, except he was polite and well behaved. Perhaps you could learn from him."

"Tch!" The werewolf clicked his tongue in frustration. "As if."

"Ugh… I don't want to hear you guys saying good things about that old pervert's kids," Loki sighed before grinning. "But I guess so long as I'm drinking, it's ok! Hey, where'd my liquor disappear to?"

Out of nowhere, the bottles of liquor in Loki's hands were gone, as if they vanished into thin air. Loki darted her head in every direction to see that Riveria somehow had her alcohol. "Riveria? When did you…?"

"You can have these back later," she said, sternly.

"But-"

"There will be no drinking around children while I'm here."

"You expect me to-"

"Later." Seeing no room for argument in the elf's voice, Loki slid down and mopped. Riveria was unyielding in times such as these. So much like a strict mother.

"Now then," Finn said. "If there are no more interruptions-"

"Just a moment there, Finn," Gareth interjected before approaching him and whispering in Finn's ear. "When you plan on telling them everything, does that als include what we did?"

"Yes," Finn whispered back. "It's public knowledge anyway. I at least want them to hear about it from our point of view. If they lose respect for us, then that is something we will have to accept… do you disagree?"

"No," Gareth said boldly. "We earned our way here, where we are, I believe that much. Our way may seem cowardly to some, and maybe it was, but you'll see no regrets from me. I know Riveria would say the same."

"You're right," Finn grinned. With everything said that needed to be said, Gareth walked to the couch and sat, as did everyone else. "Now, lets begin the story. Where to start… I suppose that the day Loki, Riveria, Gareth, and I first came to Orario would be good. The first thing Riveria wanted to do was find her cousin, Celesta, who was a member of Zeus Familia, but we didn't know that at the time, because we were ignorant of most of their key members. Anyway, I told Riveria that the first thing we must do is get our Familia officially registered at the guild and that trying to find the cousin that she's never even seen can wait-in a very condescending way, I must admit-so Riveria argued that her cousin was an adventurer and that she could just get her information from the guild-in a know it all sort of tone. Back in the day, all three only ever argued and compete with one another. We had it out for each other. Finn added humorously, earning some laughs. "Naturally, I couldn't argue with that, so we went to the guild, got ourselves registered, and, then Riveria asked for information about her cousin, and I'm sure you all can imagine the shocked faces the guild worker made when we asked for the name of a Zeus Familia elite and that she was Riveria's cousin, not to mention ours. Needless to say, it was quite a shocking revelation."

"Sorry to ask," Tiona said. "But how could you not know what familia your own cousin was in, Riveria?"

"Like I had said before, I had never met my cousin prior to arriving in Orario with Finn and the others," she explained. "I knew she was an adventurer because it was a story that had spread around the entire elven forests that she had left and was becoming one of the greatest mages of the era. Thinking back, that may have been on purpose…" Riveria muttered to herself. It made sense, considering how much prejudice elves had for other races. Obviously, they would never want to say good things about a familia filled with other races.

"Moving on," Finn said. "Despite the surprise of discovering who Riveria's cousin was affiliated with, we immediately went to the Zeus Familia home to meet her."

"You weren't nervous about meeting with the strongest familia in the city?" Raul couldn't help but ask. "On your first day as an adventurer?"

"Well, I was certainly nervous," he admitted. "Riveria was insistent."

"Learning that she was a member of such a distinguished familia only made me want to meet her more. Also, I knew that if I didn't go as soon as possible, then I would keep putting it off and never go. That aside, it wasn't as though I forced Finn or anyone else to accompany me."

"You didn't, that is true, but I wanted the chance to meet them as well."

"Besides," Gareth said. "Do ya really think you could have mustered the courage to even approach the guards without us there?"

"Probably not."

"So, what happened?" Tiona asked, anxious for the story to continue."

"Riveria," Finn addressed the high elf, believing that she should tell this part.

"Hm," she nodded. "We went to Zeus Familia's base. Doing my best to hide my anxiety, I asked them to let me meet my cousin-Celesta Lodos. Naturally, they were suspicious of me, which was natural, considering that they were the top familia and would have quite a few enemies. It wasn't looking like they would just let us pass, but then, to our surprise, the patron deity-Zeus-sama-walked to the guards and said to let us through. The guards were reluctant, but he assured them that I was not deceiving them. As you know, children can not lie to deities, so they let us through."

"I remember that day," Loki muttered, still depressed over not being allowed to drink her alcohol. "The old pervert was ogling Riveria and kept making rude comments about my chest. Saying things like, "Flat is justice", and crap like that. Ooh, I knew then and there that I would build a familia that would knock his off the top even if it killed me!"

Riveria and the others ignored Loki's rant. "I thanked Zeus-kami for letting us in, he kept saying some rather… inappropriate things, but he had his familia's respect. I felt I could trust him, despite not truly knowing him. In that respect, he was somewhat like Loki."

"I'm nothing like that old perv and did you guys just ignore me?!"

"He personally escorted us inside their home and called for Celesta to come. However, the first of the major members we were to meet was not her, but a man, but we did not know of him, but he we would soon realize that he was a top class adventurer of the highest respect. When he heard that I was Celesta's cousin, he got curious and all of just sort of started talking. It was clear that he was a sociable person and easy to get along with. He said nothing but good things about my cousin, probably trying to reassure since he could see through my anxiety. To be honest, talking with him made it feel like all of my worries disappeared."

"Ah!" Aki squealed excitedly, realizing the tone she was using was like a young maiden talking about the one she loved. "This was him, wasn't it? The guy you liked?"

"Ooh! Was it, Riveria?" Tiona asked.

"Did you ever confess?" Tione asked.

"Was he good?" Aiz asked, referring to his character, but it couldn't be helped that it was taken out of context by some of the more mature members of the familia.

"R-Riveria-sama, was it really appropriate to fall for a man you just met?" Lefiya asked, her elven instinct kicking in and telling her to question the royal elf's judgement.

"Riveria, how dare you?" Loki demanded, outrage. "Falling for a guy in that pervert's familia is one thing, but still liking him is a betrayal to me and our entire familia!"

"Shut up," Riveria said darkly, her icy glare sending chills down thebacks of all those in Finn's office. She was not the type to allow herself to be humiliated and teased like this continuously. "Say anything else about it and I will burn you all."

"S-Sorry…" all the girls said fearfully.

"Anyway," Riveria coughed. "Cousin Celesta came, accompanied by two young women-they suspected that Zeus-kami was trying to lure her in alone and do indecent things to her so they came in together. I finally got to meet my cousin. She wasn't told that I was her cousin, but she might have been able to see our connection. She didn't have the emerald hair of my-our-family-her hair was golden like her late mother's-but we did share the same eyes. Swallowing my nerves, I introduced my self and…"

* * *

" _Is that true…?" Celesta asked, showing neither skepticism nor belief. Just simple curiosity. She wore cream colored robes that covered her entire body right down to her ankles and black boots. Her long, luxurious golden hair went straight down to her thighs and her emerald green eyes sparkled like the precious gem they resembled. Being in her presence felt as though you were in front of a queen, only making Riveria more nervous._

" _It is… Our father's are brothers… you have met my father, yes?"_

" _Oh, Uncle Larf," she said happily, surprising Riveria. She was expecting her cousin to dislike her father. "How is he doing?"_

" _Um, fine, Cousin Celesta… I'm sorry, but do you not have any dislike towards my father? He used to speak quite poorly about your father."_

" _Hm… yes, I did dislike Uncle Larf for a time, since he treated my father so badly, but I know my father never hated yours."_

" _What?" Riveria was shocked by her claim._

" _If anything, he hated the chains of an oppressive tradition for restricting his younger brother. My father drank, you know? I know, completely uncharacteristic for any elf, especially a high elf, but he was an odd elf, as I'm sure you've heard. But, when compared to the worst drunks, he wasn't particularly bad about it. When under influence, he muttered about Uncle and how he'd wish he would be true to himself and embrace the outside world."_

" _I-I never knew that…"_

" _But here you are, in the outside world in Orario of all places. It must not have been easy to leave the forest."_

" _No, it wasn't," Riveria chuckled, remembering how difficult it was to escape the forest. "They sent the knights to hunt us down and a green dragon ended up attacking us in the middle of it all. Fortunately, Finn and I were able to destroy it."_

" _Is that so? I am impressed. Right, then. Which of you is Finn?"_

" _I am Finn," he introduced himself while sitting on the couch of the room they were in along with Gareth, Loki, and Aina, who was Riveria's friend and aide. "Finn Deime. You do not have to thank me. If I did nothing, I would likely have died."_

" _Even so, I thank you for saving the forest. You must be a strong prum to be able to help defeat a dragon."_

" _I am honored to receive your gratitude," he said humbly._

" _As I was saying, Cousin, in the end Uncle did allow you to leave, yes?"_

" _Yes… he did. I didn't think much of it at the time, but… he did let us leave without anymore fuss. Granted, it was after we killed the dragon."_

" _Then maybe that was a sign to him that you should venture beyond the forest and discover new possibilities… maybe he changed for the better?"_

 _Riveria thought about it, looking at her feet contemplatively. It was hard for her to imagine her father, so stuck in his ways, to change… but maybe he did. "...Cousin Celesta, why did you become an adventurer?"_

 _It may seem like a sudden question, but Riveria had wanted to know this ever since her days living the forest._

" _This and that," Celesta said casually._

" _...What?"_

" _Well, it all happened rather suddenly. As you may already know, my father and I had more or less left the forest and started traveling around, never calling one place home. One day, we arrived at a town near Orario and encounter a party consisting of Zeus Familia members and Zeus-kami himself-"_

" _Ah, I remember that day," Zeus said, interrupting Celesta. He and everyone else in the room were silently listening to the two high elves conversation respectfully. "It was a beautiful clear day, the kids and I had just completed a quest for the guild, and I just knew that that day was going to be special. And I was right. Wandering around, who would have guessed that we would have a chance encounter with such a beautiful elf. The moment that I saw our Celesta-chan, I just knew I had to recruit her into the familia. So, I approached her, gave her my offer, and she happily accepted and pledged total loyalty to me."_

" _That's not what happened!" Celesta snapped. "You just came up to me and started hitting on me like an old creep. Next to my father, I might add. I did eventually join, yes, but that was because I thought it might be a good opportunity for me. That, and my father believed that it was time for me to "leave the nest"."_

" _Oh, don't play coy, you uptight princess," the amazon behind her said, slapping Celesta's back. "You joined us back then because you got the hots for Kuda and wanted to follow him."_

" _T-That isn't…" Celesta stammered, her face reddening. "Just stay out of it, Lezanna."_

" _You were so charmed, you tried to deny it by say things like, "I'm only staying with you people until I find something better to do," and, "I'm doing you guys a favor by joining, so be grateful". You were such a spoiled princess."_

" _At least I'm not an obscenely dressed floozy like you."_

" _How am I obscene?" Lezanna was a beautiful and bewitching amazon with slightly darker than average skin and long hair that went straight down her back. Her clothing was just a piece of red fabric that barely covered her chest and a short skirt. Obscene was putting it lightly. "This is just the way I dress. And what about you? All covered up in those dull robes. You probably just wear them to hide your stick of a body."_

" _I don't expect a shameless woman like you to understand the tradition behind my elven attire"_

" _Is the tradition to hide your stick bodies?"_

" _At least we know modesty unlike you shameless amazonian harlets."_

" _Stick."_

" _Strumpet."_

" _Uptight."_

" _Immodest."_

 _The high elf and the amazon glared daggers at one another. It was so intense that the Loki Familia could almost see lightning coming out of their eyes. Zeus and his other two familia members only sighed tiredly as if this was an everyday occurrence._

 _In the face of of the high elf and amazon's petty argument, Riveria's anxieties were replaced by feelings of confusion and awkwardness. She wasn't sure what she should do._

" _They'll be at this for awhile," the other woman said, breaking Riveria free from her thoughts. She had been so focused on her cousin, that she barely noticed her two friends that came in with, but now that she has, Riveria felt the sudden urge to get her eyes checked. The woman who had just spoken to her just may have been one of the most beautiful women she had ever laid eyes on. Coming from a species known for its beauty, that was saying something. She was tall and voluptuous, wearing a casual one piece blue dress. Her most prominent feature was definitely her long white hair which contrasted with her dark eyes. It gave her an enchanting air. "It's hard to say when they'll stop. Hmm… if you've got a question about being an adventurer, maybe I can answer them for you? I get the feeling Celesta would answer them the same way I would. I'm Kyra, by the way."_

" _ **The**_ _Kyra Slavis?!" Riveria eyes wide eyed. Her companions made similar expressions. "The assassin?! The fastest woman in the city?! That Kyra Slavis?!"_

" _Umm… yeah," Kyra said. "I guess you have heard of me? Although, I'm now known as The Thunderstorm."_

" _Heard of you?!" Riveria scoffed. She had gone off on a tangent. "Your name is as famous as the Zeus Familia leaders. Not a day went by where we didn't hear your name on our travels. It's an honor, Slavis-san."_

" _...Likewise."_

" _It really is her…" Finn said in awe of Kyra. The stories they heard about her were mind blowing._

" _As I live and breathe, The Assassin…" Gareth was equally struck in awe._

" _That's it!" Loki snapped at the sight of the three gorgeous young women and at the realization of their collective fame. She jerked her head at Zeus and glared at him with unadulterated envy. "How does a pervy old fart like you get to have so many exotic, beautiful, and fragrant flowers in his familia?! You're just a sicko!"_

" _BWAHAHAHA!" Zeus laughed haughtily. "It's because I am stud, you flat-chested goddess. I'm a man among gods! My wild charms can attract any lady to me!"_

" _So it's about power, is it?" Loki surmised. "Fine! We'll just get stronger and knock the whole lot of ya off of your thrones! Then all the beauties will join_ _ **us**_ _! Even your own children will abandon ya!"_

" _Go ahead and try, it matters not."_

" _...I see you have similar problems to us, huh?" Kyra sighed irritably._

" _...Yes," Riveria sighed, equally irritated. "Loki is one of the reasons I am conflicted about being an adventurer. She sort of forced me into it. Granted, if I did not, then we might've died back then."_

" _Hm, well," Kyra glanced at her two friends, who were still bickering, Honestly, those two never changed. "Since you have arrived, what do you think? Of Orario, I mean."_

" _It's unique," Riveria said certainly. There was not another place that had so many different kinds humans and demi humans. No other place had the same kind of liveliness the citizens had. She and her companions had only been in Orario for a few hours, but she could tell that much. "It's unlike anywhere else I've been. I… like it."_

 _Kyra grinned. "Orario has that effect. It's the city of possibilities after all. Do you have a goal?"_

" _A goal?" Riveria blinked confused._

" _You left your forest for a reason, did you not?"_

" _While I'm not sure if one could call this a reason…" Riveria hesitated. She didn't want to look like a no nothing, sheltered princess with nothing to offer. The teasing she got from Gareth and Finn was irritating enough, but for someone like Kyra Slavis to look at her like that would be mortifying. But she asked and giving her a shallow answer would be worse. "It's to see things that I haven't before. To discover something akin to a new world."_

" _That sounds really worth the while," Kyra grinned. "You're goal is definitely purer than mine."_

" _You're too kind, Slavis-san, but I'm sure whatever your goal is-"_

" _It's just to get rich." Kyra admitted bluntly, catching Riveria, Finn, Gareth, and even Loki, who was a goddess and could see that she was not joking, off guard. Zeus and the man sitting on the sofa smirked at their faces. "It's true. I was born dirt poor, so I became an adventurer. If someone asked me if it's wrong to try and make money in the dungeon, I certainly can't say yes."_

" _..."_

" _Do I disappoint you?"_

" _No, never," Riveria said hastily. "It's an honorably honest answer."_

" _...You're really upright, huh, Riveria?" She mused. "Well, regardless of your goals, you're difficulty in the Dungeon will be the same as anyone else's. Whether or not you choose to commit to adventuring, you have to decide whether you can endure the hardship of the Dungeon."_

" _Hmm… you're saying that I can find what I'm looking for outside the Dungeon, so if I choose to become an adventurer, it should be because I like it?"_

" _What I'm saying is… you'll find yourself reaching more than your goals following the path of an adventurer… I'm sorry, I don't think I'm making much sense, am I?"_

" _Actually… I think I'm seeing things in a whole new light. Thank you, Kyra-san."_

" _Hahaha… you sure are surprisingly good at giving advice, Kyra," the man who had been talking with the fledgling Loki Familia prior to the arrival of the three women joked. "Feels like just yesterday you were questioning your own reasons to adventure with us."_

" _Quiet, Kuda," she said evenly, gesturing to the high elf and amazon, who were still bickering with each other. "These two are your fault, you accidental womanizer."_

" _I-It's not my fault!" He snapped. "Those two are always arguing! And don't call me that!"_

" _Wait, you're Kuda Zeldon?!" Finn gasped. "The Hero… the one being brought up to be the next leader of Zeus Familia?"_

" _And the reason those two dames are arguing?" Gareth added._

" _It's not my fault!" He insisted. "... but, yeah, I'm Kuda Zeldon. Sorry for not introducing myself before."_

" _Please, fight us," Finn requested._

"You said what?!" Everyone who wasn't there all of those years ago gasped, shocked at the recklessness of their captain's past self. Not even Ais, who was usually as stoic as a doll, and Bete, who usually at least tried to feign indifference, could keep their cool.

"I challenged him, them, the Zeus Familia," Finn said, smiling wryly. "They were the absolute strongest of all of the adventuring familia. For the sake of my goals, I couldn't just ignore the opportunity to challenge them, even if I was much, much weaker than them."

"That's my Captain!" Tione gushed. "Always ready to prove himself."

"It seems to me that this isn't something to be praised," Tiona sighed.

"Honestly, that was more than a little embarrassing," Riveria said, placing a hand on her forehead. "Not to mention disrespectful. They were the ones who let us in their home to allow me to meet my cousin. Challenging Zeldon-san like you did reflected poorly on us. Also, you dragged Gareth and I into it."

"I said I was sorry, did I not?" Finn said.

"Hahaha! For someone so clever, you sure did get us into a lot of trouble," Gareth laughed heartily. "You used to be pretty annoying, but you still made things interesting."

"...so what happened?" Ais asked, tilting her head. "Did they accept your challenge?"

"Well…"

 _Naturally, everyone was surprised by Finn's sudden demand. His familia gaped at him. The Zeus Familia were curious about him. The deity, Zeus, smile intrigued by him._

" _Finn!" Riveria snapped. "You're being rude. They have been nothing but good to us as hosts. This is my cousin's familia, not to mention the most prestigious familia. Challenging them like you are doing is completely disrespectful!"_

" _I was planning on challenging them like this from the moment we heard that your cousin was a member of the Zeus Familia," he confessed. "I'm sorry, Riveria, I used your connections to get close to them."_

" _What?"_

" _And I'm aware that challenging the strongest familia in the world is foolhardy as we are now, but!" Finn lifted himself off of the couch, looked straight into Kuda's eyes. "My goal is the restoration of the Prum race. I must show my bravery in the face of the strongest."_

" _Okay," Kuda said casually, surprising the Loki Familia. Zeus and Kyra simply smiled, as if this was expected. "Let's do it. You don't mind, right, old man?"_

" _You can do as you please. I won't stop you," Zeus shrugged. "But honestly, Loki, you've got a bold kid in your midst, huh?"_

" _You can say that again," she sighed good naturedly. "He's always been weird."_

" _So, exactly how do you want to do this?" Kuda asked. "3 on 3? 3 sets of individual fights?"_

" _...You're really going to accept my challenge?" Finn asked, dumbfounded by Kuda's nonchalant attitude. "Me, a rookie Level 1?"_

" _Were you going to take no for an answer?"_

" _No, not really."_

" _Then, instead of dragging things out, it would be better to grant your request," he explained, smiling light heartedly. Finn wasn't sure what to make of him. Was he just a nice guy? He had expected an elite of a prestigious familia to be more imposing, but Kuda acted like their differences in status meant nothing to him._

 _This wasn't good. He was getting. He at least needed to have a psychological advantage in this exchange. "Yes, let's do a 3 person, team battle. You two don't disagree, right?"_

" _It's fine by me, I guess," Gareth shrugged. It was more than fine, actually. This was why he came to Orario. To have passionate battles. The city's strongest faction could surely deliver, couldn't they? "It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice, anyway."_

" _I still think you're being disrespectful, Finn, and I also don't appreciate being used by you," Riveria said honestly. It really did hurt. Finn's callousness, that is. They were friends. He didn't need to act sneaky like he did. "Still, this is a good opportunity. I'll participate."_

" _This looks interesting, I'll join in." A new voice declared. A blonde male werewolf strutted into the room casually. He was tall and imposing and, from his actions, felt no awkwardness in inserting himself into the conversation._

" _Alystar?" Kuda said, confused. "Why are you here?"_

" _I had heard that a person claiming to be Celesta's cousin had arrived and got curious, so I came over, only to hear this cocky prum's shameless challenge," Alystar explained, glancing at Finn with contempt._

" _Alystar Fenras… The Werewolf King" Finn muttered in awe. Gareth and Riveria were no different. Yet another living legend had come before them. The Zeus and Hera Familia had always produced numerous powerhouses and prodigies every generation. Theirs were no exception. Kuda Zeldon, Kyra Slavis, and last, but not least, Alystar Fenris… the three of them were the most famous of their generation. Not a day went by where they didn't hear a tale or rumor of their exploits._

" _Easy, Al," Kuda ordered. "They're guests."_

" _They_ _ **were**_ _," Alystar corrected. "Now, They're challengers. Not that I'm stopping you. On the contrary, I'm joining in. That's okay, right?"_

" _It isn't as though you'll listen if it wasn't," he sighed goodnaturedly. "Okay, so it's me, Alystar, and… Kyra? You in?"_

" _As much as that would make sense, since they did come here originally because of Celesta..." Kyra said, unsheathing a knife under her dress and looked at her two friends with an indifferent expression. Both Celesta and Lezanna were_ _ **still**_ _arguing about who knew what. They were stuck in their own little world of hate and a petty desire to not let the other win their pointless squabble. Honestly, for a exotic and worldly beauty like Lezanna, and a sophisticated, mature, and regal woman like Celesta, they were both pretty childish._

" _...you dark skinned harlot," Clesta panted. Their squabble had gone on for awhile now. Both parties had used up a lot of breath._

" _...you pointy eared shrew," Lezzana countered weakly, also gasping for breath._

 _Without a word, Kyra jabbed her knife at them, surprising Loki and her familia. Both women instinctively reacted. Lezanna pulled out a wide bladed knife and crossed it with Celesta's staff to block Kyra's blow together. "Finally stopped fighting, huh?"_

" _What the hell, Kyra?!" Lezanna seethed._

" _Were you trying to kill us?" Celesta demanded before blinking. She glanced at her cousin and her familia a if she just remembered that they were there. Sheepishly, she asked a question. "How long were we at it this time?"_

" _Long enough. Get ready for a fight, Celes."_

" _What?! For an argument? With Lezanna? That's preposterous, Kyra!"_

" _With them," Kyra said, pointing her thumb at the challengers, confusing Celesta. Kyra gave a brief explanation of what had transpired while her two friends were arguing. "So, since your Riveria's cousin, you'll be on the team. That okay?"_

" _I see," Celesta nodded. "This sounds interesting. I'll go along with it."_

" _Hey, no fair," Lezanna complained. "I wanna do this, too. One of you switch with me."_

" _It's too late, Lezanna," Kyra said._

" _But-"_

" _If you behave, I'll spar with you until you're satisfied."_

" _Really? Oh, hell yeah! It's a deal."_

" _Well, it looks like we have our three," Kuda said, looking at Finn excitedly, his red eyes boring into the prum's blue eyes. "Celesta, Alystar, and I vs. you three. Let's do our best."_

" _... Yes, I want nothing less than your best, Kuda Zeldon-sama," Finn said fiercely._

* * *

"Wow… I have to say, that Kuda guy sure sounded easy going for a big shot of a big shot familia," Tiona said, her eyes wide with wonder.

"I can't deny that," Finn said. "While I certainly wasn't the closest with him, it's fair to say that anyone who knew him at least a little would say that he was not one to be overly obsessed with formalities. Before meeting him in person, I had imagined someone called The Hero as hard to approach and more serious."

"What made him so famous?" Tione asked.

"Aside from being a high level adventurer of the strongest familia, he had accomplished many feats during his younger days," he explained. "Including slaying a powerful dragon type monster that had escaped the Dungeon and was terrorizing Orario."

"Did that happen?!" The audience gasped, saved for Bete and Ais, who were wide eyed. It made sense that they would be shocked. Dragon type monsters were only born in the deeper levels of the Dungeon. For one to climb up from there and reach the surface by overwhelming the hordes of adventurers it would no doubt encounter was certainly impossible. Not to mention nightmarish.

"This was before our time, but from what we learned it was a beast regarded as an irregular that surpassed other irregulars."

"It was said to be born from the Deep Levels," Riveria added. "It tore through the upper floors like an unstoppable storm. Many adventurers were killed, as well as citizens. It might have been even worse had it not been for Zeldon-san. He was on the surface at the time and was the first to encounter the irregular. It was powerful. Even a higher level adventurer would have difficulty against it. And, at the time, Zeldon-san was only Level 2."

"2?!" Raul yelped. "But if it was actually from the Deep Floors, then a Level 2 adventurer would be easy pickings for it. Not to mention, it had to be far more powerful than anything else from down there!"

"If he didn't, then who else would stop it…? That's what Kuda would probably say," Finn said. "He was that kind of man. It didn't matter if the odds weren't in his favor. If it needed doing, then he'd do it. No questions asked."

"That, and the fact that he was a Zeus Familia adventurer may have helped him through it," Gareth said.

"I don't understand," Aki said. "Famous familia or not, a Level 2 is a Level 2. If that monster was as powerful as I imagine, then he should have been no match for it. But he won…?"

"Maybe that's the case for us and other familia, but for them, your Level wasn't the to be all end all," Finn said. "When Kuda fought, his status was the last thing on his mind. Of course, status is important in fighting powerful monsters. I know that. But…?"

Finn seemed to be unable to explain the impossible scenario of a Level 2 defeating a powerful Deep Floor monster, who was powerful enough to reach the surface without getting killed, by himself. In fact, the younger members could see that he also wanted to know, but not even his incredible brain could come up with a believable theory. No matter what it should've been impossible. Even if he had the best training, even if he had the best equipment… he shouldn't have been able to do it.

"Well, he did have a powerful magic," Gareth said. "One that would probably have put an edge against a fire breathing monster, and at the end of the incident, he was hospitalized for 2 months."

"But he beat it?" Ais asked, an edge in her voice.

"He did," Rivera answered, a proud smile on her face.

"Amazing!" Tiona screamed. "He defeated a ridiculously powerful monster by himself like a hero! No,he is The Hero! And you guys fought him! How did that go anyway?"

Finn and the original three members of Loki Familia exchanged wry smiles. "Well…"

* * *

 _They were lead to the backyard of the Zeus Familia home. There was a specialized field for practice fights. A large rectangular white box was pan intend over the stone floor. The news of the challenge had quickly spread across the familia home and they had an audience. It would be false to believe that they weren't at least a little bit nervous having the attention of the largest and strongest familia looking at them like this, but they were only focusing on the opponents before them. The Zeus Familia team of three hadn't changed into anything and only picked up a basic sword for Kuda and a long machete for Alystar. Celesta was fine with the magic staff she had on her._

 _Loki and Aina, along with Zeus, had been escorted by Kyra and Lezanna to a tall building with a balcony designed to view the fight from the perfect angle._

" _Yeesh," Lezanna winced. "Didn't think it would draw a crowd like this."_

" _Well, when a group of newbies challenge one of_ _ **us**_ _, then that's bound to get a bit of attention," Kyra said. "But, yeah, it will be annoying if our leaders get wind of this. They'll probably have a problem with this."_

" _Don't worry, girls," Zeus said. "If they make a fuss, then I'll tell them it was all my idea."_

" _... I think that might only cause more problems," Lezanna sighed._

" _That aside," Kyra muttered, looking down at the six fighters. Both sides were given a time to strategize and consider how they would approach this fight. Objectively, it made since. After all, multi person fights required a certain sense of teamwork and coordination. At the very least, the respective fighters must make sure they don't get in the way of their partners. The thing is, The Loki guys needed to think about how they could win, but Kuda and the others didn't. They were the powerful giants, not the inexperienced rookies._

 _So why were they putting so much effort into making a strategy? Kuda was talking with Alystar and Celesta. The werewolf looked quite a bit annoyed as if a troublesome chore had been forced upon him, which the high elf looked a bit confused, like she wasn't sure how to feel about whatever Kuda was suggesting. "He's up to something."_

" _Like what?" Lezanna asked._

" _Something very Kuda like."_

" _Either way, I feel like the fuss being made here is a bit over-the-top. I mean, two Level 6s and a Level 5 vs. three Level 1s that haven't even stepped foot into the dungeon, not a lot of ambiguity when it comes to the results."_

" _Maybe, but they do seem a bit different from others in their place… but I guess we'll see."_

 _Down below, Finn was strategizing ways to overcome the giant that was Zeus Familia. Of course, that should be basically impossible for him and his familia considering his rank, but Finn was not about to let that get in his way. As a warrior prum, he faced giants everyday._

" _Okay, here's the rules," Kuda announced, catching their attention. He carved a circle into the stone battlefield around his teammates. When he stepped into it himself, it gave them very little leg room. "The three of shall only remain in this circle for the fight."_

" _What?!" They gasped._

" _Also, we'll fight under a time limit. If you can push even one of us out by even a heel outside the ground of the circle, or land a hit on any of us, within five minutes, then you win. If you can't, then we win. Good?"_

" _You're putting yourself at a considerable disadvantage…" Finn said, feeling uneasy. The circle barely allowed the three of them enough room to move their feet. If they aren't extremely careful, then they'll lose before they can do something. That wasn't what Finn wanted. He wanted to fight them, unrestricted. "I don't want to do it like that."_

" _Come on, it's fair," Kuda said like they were old buddies._

" _I think we should accept it, Finn," Riveria said._

" _Riveria?!"_

" _They are 5-6 times stronger than us," she chided him. "Do you really think a handicap is unreasonable?"_

" _You have a point, but…?" Something felt off. There was something he-they-weren't seeing. What made him say this? Why, it was the fact that his thumb was neither aching nor shaking. It might seem silly, but the state of his thumb had always reacted to danger and had saved him and the others many times. But since it wasn't shaking or tingling or throbbing, then did it not recognize the powerful adventurers as a danger? That couldn't be it. "Alright, let's do it like that."_

 _Regardless of any hidden factors, Finn would do anything to raise his reputation. All for the sake of the prum race. Getting a win on such a powerful familia, even with a very advantageous handicap, would no doubt help him reach his goal._

" _Good," Kuda said. He then asked for one his familia members to bring them a 5-minute hourglass. A human adventurer, a young boy, quickly brought what he had asked for. "We'll move on your signal, Samson-kun."_

" _Y-Yes, Kuda-san," The boy called Samson said nervously. He started to count to three and on the third count, Finn moved._

 _He chanted. As did Riveria. And Gareth followed after Finn, understanding the plan. Not a single one of them was deluded enough to think that they actually stood a chance against 2 level 6s and a level 5. If they wanted to win the challenge and force them out of the circle, it needed to be now, when their opponents didn't know their full strength and capabilities._

 _In other words, they would cast aside all notions of defending, as the power difference between them would prove any defensive strategy fruitless, and focus entirely on attacking._

" _ **Hell Finegas!**_ _" Finn activated the spell that would enhance his offensive capabilities to the max in exchange for most of his mental capacity. He became a berserker whose only purpose was to destroy his enemies. A best who would not stop until the threat was gone._

 _The Zeus Familia was unphased by the transformation._

 _Just as Berserker Finn was going to destroy the trio before it, Kuda, despite the lack of space, at a speed Finn could not read, unsheathed his great swords with his left hand in a quick fluid motion, batting away Berserker Finn upward with the flat of his sword._

" _Finn?!" Gareth cried out as his companion was sent flying._

" _Looking away from your enemies means death, dwarf."_

" _Gah?!"_

 _At that same time, Alystar, the Werewolf King, leaped out of the circle moved straight for Gareth, moving over the ground as if he were flying. Gareth tried to knock him away with his axe, but the werewolf, with great acrobatic skill, slammed his hand onto the large axe, leapt off it and drop kicked Gareth right in the face, knocking him down onto the ground right on his butt._

' _ **He's out…**_ _' Finn understood, despite still being in his berserker state. Gareth was out cold as Alystar used him as a footrest to avoid touching the ground. There was no way he would regain consciousness before this was all decided. And now Kuda was flying up at him like a superman to finish him off._

 _He had to stop him! His berserker state understood that much. Even if this was just a game, he still felt danger. This was life and death to Berserker Finn!_

 _He engaged in an exchange of blows with Kuda. Spear vs sword, but just like on the ground, Kuda' superior power instantly overwhelmed him. He was sent crashing down. It was over for him as well._

 _But it was fine. From the moment this all began, he knew there was no way for him or Gareth to beat any of them in a head on clash. He would have liked to have been able to push them back a bit with his battle power, but that clearly wasn't going to happen. No, the only way to win was to utilize what the gods referred to as a "game changer"._

 _Riveria was their last hope._

 _But Celesta was their last nightmare._

" _Wynn Fim-" Just as Riveria was about to cast her powerful ice spell, something appeared on her face, as if it appeared out of thin air. An orange glowing band made of light bound her mouth and her hair. It prevented Riveria from saying the name of her magic. If she couldn't say the name, then she could not cast it, and if she couldn't cast it, then that meant…_

" _I think the results are obvious," Kuda said as he stood on an orange glowing platform made of light that hovered in midair. None of the Zeus Familia had touched the ground outside of the circle. In less than thirty seconds, the Loki Familia was defeated. "You lose."_

* * *

"A spell within a spell," Lefiya repeated, shocked at her teacher's explanation at what has transpired at the end of their match with Zeus Familia. Celesta had a certain spell that had a by product effect of creating certain objects made of light that could both support allies, and attack, defend against, and obstruct enemies as she chanted. And that was all before the spell was fully activated. It was a different sort of beast compared to Riveria's chand connection ability. "Is that not the ultimate spell?"

"I'm certainly envious of it," Riveria admitted. Mages were the ultimate weapon of a party due to their immense fire power, but because of the long chants that came with their powerful magic, they needed to be protected by the vanguard. Even with concurrent chanting, a spell like Celesta Lodos wielded was something every mage would covet.

"Celesta-sama is amazing…"

"Yes, yes she is."

"But, wow, you guys were steam rolled!" Tiona said with her usual air headed thoughtlessness. "You didn't stand a chance."

"Idiot!" Tione smacked her younger twin's head. "Don't insult the Captain!"

"Ow!" Tiona grabbed her head in pain.

"A-And please do not insult Riveria-sama!" Lefiya pleaded.

"Not you too…" Tiona moaned.

"It's quite alright," Finn said, chuckling. "No one knows better than us how horribly that day ended for us."

"I'd say," Bete said, looking at Gareth. "You seriously let some guy use you as a footrest, old man?"

"Like it would have ended better for ye, laddie," Gareth retorted. "Trust me, Bete, it was a very good thing you met with us that night, instead of them. Alystar-san is a gentleman, but can be very to those who disrespect his familia."

"Hmph," Bete rolled his eyes and looked away.

"That said, my snout still hurts remembering that day," He sighed, rubbing his nose.

"It's a day none of us can forget," Riveria said, smiling bitterly. "We were all walked all over."

"B-But it _was_ Zeus Familia, right? And you were all rookies back then," Raul said.

"That's right," Aki added. "You were all rookies back then. Surely, now, you three could easily win against them."

"Doubt it," they said with certainty.

"We're all much stronger now than we were back then," Finn said. "And if were to fight them right now, I would have no intention of letting things happen the same, but that said, it would definitely not be easy."

"Yes, I do see your point, Captain…" Raul nodded, looking down dejectedly.

"But we appreciate the vote of confidence, nonetheless," he continued, his two colleagues nodding at his words. "It isn't as though that was a fruitless experience for us, either."

"What do you mean?" Ais asked.

"Kuda-san said something to us, after our loss."

* * *

" _Do you know the main reason you lost?" Kuda asked as he sheathed his sword._

" _...is it because you guys are so much stronger than us?" Finn answered with clear bitterness._

" _Sure, that's part of it," Kuda said. "Obviously, it would have ended the same no matter what you did. But in this case, there was a reason for your defeat that stood out more than others."_

" _And what was that?"_

" _You lack true unity. In other words you didn't work as a team."_

" _Ridiculous!" Finn spat. "That was the one thing we could do."_

" _Do you really think that was teamwork? Really? Cause to me, it was more like three strangers trying to not get in each other's way."_

 _Finn's eyes widened. Sure, he was self aware enough to understand that they weren't perfect as a team, but… were they that awful?_

" _That wouldn't be so bad if you were actually three strangers trying to not get in each other's way. In fact, in the Dungeon, and maybe outside of it too, you may have to work with other adventurers in emergencies, and in those cases, staying out of each other's way is best, but if you're a party, then you're missing out on valuable power by not unifying yourselves. What I mean is… a familia is only a familia if everyone is in sync when it counts."_

" _Kuda may be an idiot, but when it comes to unifying a group, he's second to none," Alystar said, stepping off of Gareth's gut._

" _He may be clumsy at times, but on the battlefield, there is nobody I'd rather fight beside," Celesta added her two cents._

 _In an instant, every member of Zeus Familia gave their thoughts on Kuda, saying both good and bad things about him._

" _He may be thoughtless, but there's nobody else I'd want to listen to my problems!" Lezanna yelled from the balcony._

" _He maybe a womanizer, but there's nobody I trust more," Kyra yelled. At this point, this had become more them making fun of him, than them teaching a group of newbies a lesson._

" _He may be childish enough to not eat his peas and carrots, but I'll still cook for him!"_

" _His recklesness gets him into stupid trouble, but I'll still follow him!"_

" _He's careless enough to repeatedly break his sword in battle, but Gobniu Familia still fixes it!"_

" _He's a playboy, but I still trust my sister with him!"_

" _He's a-"_

" _All of you, shut up!" Kuda snapped at his entire familia, his face red with embarrassment._

' _ **He has their admiration and trust**_ _,' Finn realized. Beyond, the jabs at his competence and character, Finn could hear the trust the familia had in Kuda. He was respected by them. They would follow him to the depths of hell if it came to that. Kuda had an emotional connection with those in his familia that created unity within their ranks. That must be why he's supposed to be the next captain. Did the current captain of Zeus Familia also have this power?_

" _Zeldon-san truly is an interesting man, isn't he?" Riveria, whose mouth binding was released, said to Finn as she approached him._

" _Riveria," Finn said. So she saw what he saw as well._

" _I'm sorry, Finn. I was less than useless in this bout. I couldn't even cast my spell. I was disgraceful."_

 _No, I'm the one to blame, Finn thought._

" _No, if we're talking about who was the most useless," Gareth began, forcing himself up after regaining consciousness. Alystar was surprised that the dwarf could still move after taking his kick. He was tougher than he thought. "It's the guy who got used as a footrest. Aye… I reckon this is going to hurt for a long time."_

" _Foolish dwarf. Obviously, the fastidious elf who could not even cast a sing spell to aid her comrades was the most useless."_

" _A man pressed his foot on me!"_

" _A fellow elf bound my mouth!"_

" _You were unharmed!"_

" _Exactly. How does not being worth assault better?!"_

" _You were both useless," Finn interjected. He didn't think he could be like Kuda and he imagined The Hero would say something similar. Finn could not be Kuda just as Kuda could not be Finn. The only thing he could do was aspire to reach the same effectiveness as him. "And so was I. But I won't give up because I was embarrassed today. However, if you two feel like quitting, then I won't stop you."_

 _Gareth and Riveria's mouths fell agape. They were completely taken aback by the prum's condescending words. Not to mention insulted. "As if you/ye cocky prum!"_

" _An elf would never do something so disgraceful as quitting before starting!"_

" _And dwarves aren't so frail as to stay down after being knocked down once!"_

" _Oh? Are you both sure?"_

" _Of course I am," Riveria assured._

" _You'd have to cut me legs off before you'd get me to quit!" Gareth declared._

 _Meanwhile, Zeus Familia observed the audacity of the trio of defeated adventurers having an argument right in front of them with confused bemusement._

" _Those three are too noisy," Alystar sighed, pinching his forehead as if he had a headache._

" _But they've got promise," Kuda said, smiling carefreely. "That's what you were thinking, right, Mr. Cool?"_

" _Many have promise," he sighed. "Only a few ever keep it."_

" _I guess…"_

" _But they seem like one of those few."_

" _Can't you just say that…" He sighed, exasperated._

" _I could sense Riveria's magic power," Celesta added. "If she grows, she'll certainly become a force to be reckoned with."_

" _Although that unity thing you were talking about might take some work…" Alystar sweat dropped as they observed their prolonged argument._

" _Meh," Kuda shrugged. "It's still better than Celesta and Lezzana's fights."_

" _True."_

" _Excuse me… no, I can't say you are wrong," Clesta sighed, dejected._

* * *

"Wow… I can't believe you all had the nerve to actually do all that as rookies in front of the Zeus Familia," Raul said in awe, earning the embarrassed expression of Loki Familia's Big 3.

"You should try being there," Loki sighed, feeling embarrassed herself. "The old playboy wouldn't stop laughing at these three's angst. I had half a mind to jump off that balcony."

"Well… it was certainly better than being depressed over a loss," Finn said with a wry smile.

"Yeah, it took guts to challenge people like them," Tiona said. "But that Kuda guy sounds like the real deal."

"Indeed," Riveria nodded. "We left that day with wounded pride and damaged egos, but we also learned a valuable lesson in what a familia is. I certainly have no regrets."

"Yeah, you sure know how to pick your men, Riveria," Tione joked.

"T-Tione…" Riveria glared, slightly blushing.

"Did anything ever happen between you two?" Aki asked.

"Not you two…" Riveria sighed. "Listen, Kuda-san loved Kyra-san, a person whom I believe deserved him far more than I."

"That's unfortunate, Riveria," Ais said, as the other girls sent sympathetic looks to the mother of the familia.

"I could do without the looks of pity… Perhaps it would interest you all to know that Finn here was rejected by a certain female prum from Zeus Familia."

"WHAT?!" Tione growled so loudly that the others jumped in fright.

"How exactly is it elvish for you to toss me under the cart, Riveria?" Finn eyed the high elf, who shrugged. "If you all must know, Zeus Familia had a certain female prum in their ranks who was both courageous and strong. She was the ideal woman for my goal, but she turned me down and that was that."

"I'm so sorry, Captain," Tione said cutely. "That shrew did not know what she was doing. She missed out on getting to be with such a wonderful man such as yourself."

'Oh, please…" Tion and Bete sighed internally.

"Thank you for saying so, Tione."

"So what happened then?" Bete asked, getting confused looks from the others. "We all know the story. Zeus and Hera got their butt's handed to them by the One Eyed Black Dragon and Freya and us kicked them out."

"...Back then, a lot of things happened," Finn explained, his eyes looking down. "A shift in power as inevitable and things ended with no hard feelings on either side."

The younger members could hear the emotion in Finn's voice. Whatever happened back then, he was bitter about it. Yet, he did not regret anything. None of them did. It was such an odd feeling to get from the Big 3 of Loki Familia.

"It's getting late," Loki said, wanting to end the tension building in the room. "We should get outta Finn's hair for now."

"Just a moment," Finn said as everyone was about to leave the office. "I have an objective and that is to make this a familia that surpasses Zeus and Hera."

Their eyes widened at his somewhat sudden declaration.

"And I mean at their strongest point, not when they've been weakened. 'Trust me, that is not going to be easy. At their peak, Zeus Familia alone had 1 Level 8, 5 Level 7s, 10 Level 6s, over 20 Level 5s, and close to 1000 in their ranks. The Hera Familia had similar numbers. Also, their deepest floor count was Floor 85."

The younger member's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they heard those numbers. They were unreal by modern standards. They themselves had on goes as low as Floor 50. The numbers alone were almost incomparable.

"H-How can such ridiculous numbers be possible?" Raul asked, shaken.

"History," Riveria answered. "They were the strongest familia for a thousand years. During that time, centuries of studies and knowledge were passed down through the ages. They had information and resources exclusive to only those in the familia."

The teachings and experiences were passed down through the generations of the legendary familia. The different sorts of training techniques, the opportunities, the examples left by their predecessor's… all of that played integral roles in the Zeus and Hera Familia's retaining their power for a millenia.

"Obviously, we don't have that," Gareth said. "We're fresh compared to those monsters thus we can't do things how they could. Of course, history alone wasn't the sole source of their strength. They were all genuine monsters worthy of the title "Strongest"."

"Even so, I believe that this Familia has the talent necessary to take on that challenge. Although, this time I have no intention of losing, but I can't do it alone. Will you all help me achieve this goal, despite how seemingly impossible it sounds?"

"Of course, Captain!" Tione squealed. "I'd do anything for your dream."

"If it was easy then how would it be fun?" Tiona said. "It will be like we''re trying to be heroes!"

"Tch, obviously we're going to get stronger," Bete said in his usual harsh tone. "There is no way I'm going to be some small fry stuck moving in one place."

"I-It sounds difficult, but I'll do my best," Raul stated.

"I'm feeling the pressure, but that's pretty normal for me," Aki said. "I'll do my best."

"I-I'll do my best, too," Lefiya said.

"And you, Ais?" Finn directed his eyes straight into the golden girl of the familia.

"...I want to be stronger." She said her well known, earnest wish with a new fire lit in her soul.

Finn smiled fatherly at the kids of the familia. "Good."

With that bit of drama over with, the youngsters of the familia left Finn's office, each filled with renewed vigor in their soul and a greater desire to grow stronger for the failia. The only ones left were Loki Familia's Big 3 and the patron goddess herself.

"Well, that went well," Gareth said after a moment.

"Indeed," Riveria nodded, looking at Finn. "I must admit, after being reminded of that day, it makes me realize how big of an effect Zeldon-san's words had on you."

"It's pretty scary to imagine how things would have ended up for us had I not heard it."

"...Well, I think we would have done just fine, even without that playboy's kids," Loki said stubbornly.

"Maybe, maybe not. It was still important advice."

"...What do you think they are doing now?" Riveria asked aloud, looking out the window listlessly.

"Who can say. But I know they're doing things as they desire."

"Aye," Gareth grunted. "That's the kind of people the legendary familia are."

Finn stared out the window, thinking about things. Had he grown as much as he thought he had? Could he grow Loki Familia into something that surpasses Zeus Familia? He could. He would do it for the goal of restoring the prum race.

' _What do you think, Kuda-san? Do you think I've become a captain that matches your ideals? And what are you doing right now, remnants of Zeus Familia?_ '

* * *

"You both ready for this?" Alystar asked Kuda and Kyra after hearing Dr. Oleson's announcement. Both of them were standing still, looking anxious;y at one another.

"If I said yes, I think that'd be a lie," Kuda sighed.

"Yes, I've dreamt of this day for so long, but now that it's here," Kyra said. "I want to run."

"I think if any of your fangirls heard that, they'd be disillusioned," Lezzana mused.

"Kyra, Kuda, it's perfectly normal to be nervous," Celesta said. "You just have to move."

"Hey," Sapphire spoke up. "What exactly is Bell-kun to you people."

They all exchanged solemn glances.

"He's our last hope," Kuda said cryptically.

* * *

 **Last hope… huh? What kind of hope can 10-year old bring? Also, I was kind of conflicted about giving The Zeus and Hera Familia's such overpowered numbers, but I remembered that they had a lot of history and that had to give them an edge.**

 **So how did you like this. Love it? Hate it? Put your thoughts in the comments and I'll see you all next time.**

 **Speaking of next time, next is the moment we all have been waiting for. Bell meets Zeus Familia!**

 **R &R**


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